Kerrison T. Gramcragger, or Joe for Short

Time to tell a tiny Tiger Tale told in text . . .

Pogo Possum #7, 1951

All Over the Whole Wide World

As most of you Kelly addicts, all over the whole wide world, know, Kelly did a lot of covers and some stories for Disney Dell Comics back in the '40s. He did some miscellaneous stuff like posters and house ads . . . like this one for Disney comics. It's pretty funny for an ad, somewhat like what Mad Magazine would have done, and pretty inappropriate for its racial stereotype. 

But hey, that was then, this is now.

And later, Kelly returned to the Russian steppes for Pogo.

1946 American Trade Journal

How Cheerfully He Seems to Grin

If this isn't Albert the Alligator disguised as a Crocodile, then it's a doppelgänger. We all have doppelgängers out there somewhere, don't we? Anyway, this is from a Raggedy Ann & Andy comic book, from sometime in the '40s (I just don't feel like looking it up right now).

Kelly once told me that Lewis Carroll was one of his biggest creative influences. But of course.

Well, Whaddayaknow, I Think I'm Back On

Well, it's taken me the longest time to get back on this Blog, having been locked out for almost a year. I THINK I'm back on, so I'm testing this out with this front and back cover of one of my favorite Kelly non-Pogo works, Fairy Tale Parade #3. I may have posted this before, but if I did, well, here it is again. Let's see if this works . . .

Fairy Tale Parade #3

Well, well, it seems to work. except I couldn't get the first paragraph to flush left.

This cover and others like it are so comforting to me, even in my old age, during stressful times such as we have with Covid-19. The cover is timeless, colorful and magical—just what I need to calm my anxieties.

'Tis the Night . . .

Pippin Hill

This one I KNOW I posted some years ago, but I just came across it again and I marvel at how lovely Kelly's architectural rendering is, and how I'd still love to live in a whirled that Kelly created. I want to go to a Christmas party on Pippin Hill!

Christmas with Mother Goose FC #201

Map of the Fairy Tale Lands

As I've indicated before, any dedicated Kelly fan has already seen 90% or more of what I share on this site, but we prolly have some Kelly new-comers showing up (and maybe ones who only have known the Okefenokee oeuvre, or parts of it). And of course my mission here is to love and share ALL things Kelly, such as this lovely map from one of his Fairy Tale comic books.

I have to say again that if I've shown any of these posted items before, my apologies, but after more than nine years of posting this stuff, it all seems new to me again. 

Fairy Tale Parade #6, 1943

Kelly's Donald

A query came in the last post's comments, asking about any Kelly credit for this German edition of Duck reprints. You can reference that question in that post's comments, and the general answer is that the German cover is a modern 'tracing' of the Kelly cover on WDCS #101, changing a few details (fez, slippers, patterns, and even 'hatch' lines [Kelly's lines on the side of the chair indicate that Donald puts a bit of weight on the chair], etc). 

Part of the question was, is that the work of Jippes on the modern cover?  I'm guessing no, because I think Jippes would change it all a bit more to fit his lovely style, but ya never know.

And YES, we will have more new Pogo stuff, it's just stuck somewhere in the pipeline. I'm working on it!

WDCS #101

The Wee Man with the Big Sneeze

Some of you are only here for all things Pogo, but I maintain that I'm here for the Whirled of Kelly, loving all aspects of his oeuvre. Thus here and there I sprinkle in little tidbits of his other works, though I can't recall which comic book this page emanates from (Kelly's comics are pretty well seen these days and perhaps one of you Kellyphiles can share the info in the comment). 

I love seeing any of his many mice drawings.

Burning Question!

Artist: Walt Kelly / Colorist: Thom Buchanan

This is my burning question ('burning', get it?): Would you pay for a comic book that looked somewhat like the cover above, knowing that it had 'fan fiction' by professional cartoonists that have been influenced by Walt Kelly in one way or another over the years, each exploring some aspect of the Whirled of Kelly? 

It might be a new Peter Wheat story, or a new Fairy Tale Parade story, or new whimsical poetry, or (hold your breath) a new Albert and Pogo story, or a really good emulation of Kelly's style venturing into realms unknown. The ideas could be wildly inventive, just somehow touching on the Whirled of Kelly.

As I say, these would be professional cartoonists, commissioned from around the world, with great understanding of the wit and charm of Kelly's art and writing. It wouldn't BE Kelly—of course there was only one Kelly. But think of the different creative teams that have spun their talents on the Disney characters and such. Only in this case maybe there's a story about a kid who collects Pogo stuff, to the befuddlement of her friends. Or Mouse, good ol' mouse, could explore back stage and under the floorboards of the Cirque du Soleil. Or Peter Wheat strays into the Okefenokee.

Securing creative rights and paying good rates for cartoonists would have to be dealt with, but I want to start here, by asking you Friends-in-Kelly for your thoughts. Please, one and all, I need your feedback, both positive and negative about this idea. 

This would be a 'one-shot', something like the old Four-Color Comics series. Number 2 might be Carl Barks, or Bill Watterson, or Alex Schomberg, or Charles Schulz, or V.T. Hamlin, or George Herriman, or etc etc etc. 

I dunno. TALK to me. 

AND, if you would like a high-res (3.5 MB) 8.5x11" jpeg of the cover above without that pesky title type, just email me at Thomas@PictorialArtsJournal.com with "Kelly" in the subject field, and I will burn it over to you. 

Comments, please leave comments!

Illustrated by Walter Kelly

Ahem. Thank you gentlemen who have commented recently (are there no vocal ladies of the female women-types who treasure Kelly?) about their desire to see this blog continue.  

I would be sad to step away from this effort of love. Therefore, I will endeavor to continue demonstrating that love of all things Kelly...I just can't promise that the posts will be as regular as they have tried to be, but it sounds like the vocal Friends-of-Kelly are Oh-Kay with that. Someone has suggested that perhaps I make this blog by invitation only—to those that have spoken up of their love of Kelly's genius. Hmm. Still, my hope has been to keep Kelly's spirit alive by inspiring new followers of his work. 

Remember that I intend showcasing ALL things Kelly — such as this very early effort by Kelly that originally was intended for the Sunday supplements, but ended up being archived in one of the very earliest comic books, somewhat before that fellow from Krypton started throwing his weight around.

Yes, I Go Pogo, but I also shout above the digital tumult:

LONG LIVE KELLY!

New Comics #2, January 1936

See if You Can Help Elmer

Our friend Barry sent over some nice scans of all the pages from Looney Tunes (and Merry Melodies) #4. Nestled on the inside back cover is a swell Walt Kelly rendition of Elmer Fudd, somehow set down in the land of Kelly as the old woman in the shoe! 

What fun, sez I.

Thanks Barry!

Okay, full confession! I colorized the body of the shoe, as it was plain ol' black and white in the comic book and just cried out for something to give it substance. I wonder why they didn't color it.

UPDATE:

I got an email, asking to see the original raw scan. Here it be:

Celebrating Creativity

This is a reminder that this Sunday, August 25, is Walt Kelly's 100th Birthday, and our new zine, Delineated Life, will be rolling out its tribute issue, entirely dedicated to Kelly.

I say that so confidently and calmly, even though I only have a couple of days left to pull it all together and get it up online as I'm way working on other deadlines. Oy.

Pictorial Arts Journal is the papa publication of Delineated Life, so it's proudly presenting this promotional 'poster' to remind you to check in on Sunday.

Where's the Fire Brigade?

Wow, hey look kids! A Walt Kelly panorama with Brownies, which I like to imagine to be in the same whirled as Peter Wheat!

From Four Color Comics #192 — The Brownies — 1948

Our friend Barry has sent over a batch of comics of which this is the center spread of one. You can see why some old comics are missing center spreads, if they look like this, maybe they ended up taped to bedroom walls.

EGG!

Here's another Kandi the Cave Kid by Kelly. Two different sets of scans showed up here, one from OtherEric and the other from Barry, both great friends of this blog. Each set had something different and better than the other, so I combined them in editing to come up with 4 pretty pages. Kelly has drawn quite a few monkeys, birds and dinosaurs over the years, and these are some of his earliest.

As I've said, some of the items that show up on Whirled of Kelly have been seen elsewhere on the net or in books at one time and place or another, but I want to have most all of Kelly's stuff to ultimately end up here on this site, and with high quality scans at that!

Thank you OtherEric and Barry!

Walt Kelly — Kandi — Looney Tunes #11 — September, 1942

Where Is Everybody? Come Out, Don't Be Afraid!

Woosh, another Sunday comin' up over the horizon. 

And here's another Kandi strip by Kelly from a Looney Tunes issue, scanned by this blog's friend OtherEric, of the Digital Comic Museum, and lovingly shared with us Kelly fanatics. This is an early production for Kelly, with his style only barely formative. Yet it's charming art and worthy of archiving here. 

In fact OtherEric made a point in an email to me that even if certain Kelly stuff might be posted elsewhere, here we like to share BIG scans, and really ALL of Kelly's work belongs here since we've come this far with this much stuff. So be prepared, this blog is going to go on and on, even with stuff you may own or have seen elsewhere. 

LONG LIVE KELLY!

Oh gosh, Eric, I don't remember which Looney Tunes isn this was.

Update from OtherEric:

This one is from Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies #15; it's the last Kandi story according to Overstreet. But I keep hoping there's one more story that I haven't tracked down since there wasn't one in issue 6, I figure the best candidates for that error are 7, 9, and 16.

Wince in a While

I am a horri-bobble person!

Here I've whet your appetite for some Kelly goodies, sent in by various Kelly aficionados, and I still haven't made time to edit them and get them out to you. It ain't no excuse that I'm trying like gangbusters to make a living, trying like goomble-bumbers to keep my little family happy, trying like the Dickens & Fenster to make everyone else happy. It jes' ain't no excuse. 

Not only do I not have any of that stuff ready, I (wincing look here on my part) have lost track of who all sent over the Kelly stuff. Y'see, I had to recently go through 3 computers jes' to get my business back up and running, and I had to back up files on several externals with literally a million files all jumbled up and out of any order. (wincing look again). Could you, my friends-in-Kelly who have sent stuff over and you haven't seen it posted yet, help remind me via email who sent what? (wince) I promise to start a whole new filing system that will keep it straight from now on. Really, I promise.

What shows below isn't all that rare to you Kelly aficionados, but it's awfully sweet and reminds us once again how Kelly made the comical books magical as well.

Walt Kelly — The Three Caballeros (inner back cover)

Neatest, Correct Answers

You never know where you'll find Kelly stuff from back in the good ol' Dell days. This man was ever so prolific in his art.

Kelly Circus Picture

There are so many wonderful Walt Kelly treasures to be uncovered and presented in full resolution.

This back page of a 1940s Dell comic features the ducks by Kelly, but even more tantalizing is the advertised poster that has to be by Kelly, judging from all the style clues — such a magnificent example of Kelly's time with Disney characters!

Does anyone have a lead to a full resolution scan of this poster?

South Boundbusses

Thanks, as always, to OtherEric of the Digital Comic Museum for supplying more rare Walt Kelly material. I know a lot of you come just for the Pogo stuff, but this is the WHIRLED of Kelly after all, and EVerything Kelly is welcome here.

This particular story is a bit odd, admittedly, drawn in a style that is barely recognizable as Kelly work. But it's there—look at some of the faces and the general demeanor of the characters. And then read the story, delightfully odd, in the vein of George Carlson's delightfully odd Jingle Jangle Comics. But also, as OtherEric points out, who else but Kelly would have his signature joke of locating the story in South Boundbusses?

If all you come for is Pogo, well, see you on Sunday, Kelly Sunday.

Walt Kelly — Looney Tunes #20 —June 1943