Dreams and Nightmares 133

Contributor and subscriber copies of this issue were just mailed today. There are only two that needed special treatment and are still here. This is the May issue. The next issue is due out in September, and it's not full so send contributions at any time.

Review of Pogo's Bats and the Belles Free

Walt Kelly, 1976, Pogo's Bats and the Belles Free, Fireside Books and Simon and Schuster. I have to say that I am not impressed with the construction of this book. It was one of the last published, until several different companies started doing reprints, and yet the pages are already coming out. It's only 50 years old! Nevertheless, this is the first book, and I think the only one, to reprint these particular strips. So what are you gonna do?<br><br>

The book begins with the three bats, who seem to have great difficulty figuring out which house is actually theirs. Then, the subject of pollution comes up, and it's agreed that human beings are the cause of it and ought to be gotten rid of. On a voluntary basis of course. But then the question is, who is human, who is more human, and who is less human. Many of the swamp's denizens are  eager Wait would you help me get my books in there I'm coming dang it All right it's right here those light blue ones right next to to say they are not very human at all.<br><br>

The three bats are back in the polling game, and give an extensive explanation of just how they go about it. Not a good idea. They persist, nevertheless.<br><br>

Pogo gets jealous, which seems a little out of character. Then Seminole Sam and Wiley Catt decide to kidnap the pup dog, which doesn't seem out of character at all. The controversy about who is human and who is not continues, interspersed with various sidetracks, including quite a bit about the battle of the sexes. Also cannibalism. There doesn't seem to be any controversy about whether humans should be done away with to end pollution. Everyone who isn't human is on board with that! <br><br>

As the book lurches towards its end, Wiley Catt shows up, armed as usual. He invites himself into the government. Nearly everyone wants in except the newly elected president, Pogo and his best friend, Porky.<br><br>

These are some of the last cartoons that Kelly drew. He died young (60), and he had not yet run out of ideas. However, the book does contain quite a few variations on familiar themes. For example, Pogo does try to run away from home again, although the way it plays out is very different this time. I would say that the book is definitely worth reading, but it's more like a comfortable old friend than an exciting new one.<br><br>

Review of The Pogo Party

Walt Kelly, 1956, The Pogo Party, Simon and Schuster. This was the first Pogo book I read, my mother's copy, which I now have. This is an election-themed book, this one about the 1956 presidential election. In I Go Pogo, about the 1952 election, some of the characters had not yet acquired their final physical appearance or personality. By the time this book was published, they all had.<br><br>

I have not mentioned this yet, I believe, but one of the signature aspects of the Pogo strip is the skiffs that the characters are constantly poling about in and fishing from. The skiffs usually have names on them, and these are names of editors or other people that Kelly knew. But the most noteworthy thing about them is that from panel to panel the names frequently change. They're not the only things in the strips that change, but they are the most obvious. The scenery: trees, rocks, tufts of grass, etc., also morph from panel to panel. Another thing that changes is the pants worn by the three bats. They usually wear the same three patterns, but if you look closely every time you see them, every now and then one or more of the patterns will be different from the usual.<br><br>

Anyway, this book begins with various characters asking Pogo if he's going to run for president again. This is something he never actually did in 1952, but most people didn't notice. The Pogo Party features the three bats (Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred) in their most prominent role. They begin by deciding to go into politics. All three plan to run for president.<br><br>

Of course a book can't be all politics from end to end. As is often the case, Churchy is revising the calendar, and Grundoon the groundhog child talks to fish.<br><br>

Later on, we almost find out what owl-flavored cake would be like. The consensus is that it wouldn't be good. Next, people try to convince Ma'm'selle Hepzibah that she should marry Pogo and become first lady. Various things happen, mostly silly things, but then the political fervor in the swamp begins to heat up. Howland and Sam determine that Churchy is the most typical of voters, and so they decide to poll his opinions to indicate how Pogo should behave while running. <br><br>

A reporter and photographer are sent by Newslife magazine to the swamp to interview Pogo. They arrive burdened with false information and leave with even less. These two show up in one of the other books, there representing the magazine Dogs Life. They behave in just the same way and are burdened with the same kinds of misinformation. <br><br>

All the foofaraw about Pogo running for president and marrying Hepzibah finally pushes the two of them, as well as Porkypine, to run off in disguise.

061526

their gods outnumber worshippers keeps 'em busy

061426

incorporation isn't easy New world, new gravity, new chemistry I've learned to start with the head hard to get my footing otherwise The left foot comes last I'm right-handed and right-footed somehow, adults never notice small children do Where's your foot mister? Here it is, see? they tend to follow me around for a bit but they get bored I never visit one place twice or if I do it's been so long I don't recognize it spreading the word it's never worked yet but I have faith it's easy to have faith when you know something is up there when you know you have a charge that is irrevocable I envy those who wonder, who believe, who question and will never know in frustrates them but it beats the alternative

061326

Tweak a few genes and the octopus no longer needs immersion. Tweak a few more and it lives long enough to learn to communicate with us. Takes us a bit longer to go the other way but with all those arms this mutant mollusk is far more than a sex toy or doer of clever tricks; four times as capable as a human engineer typing four times as fast as a graduate student, and the compact creatures crew the first starships with aplomb. Flashing the colors of their skin the crew write poetry about the sea their ancestors lived in memory. Poems glow in chatoyant energy under the streaming stars.

061226

one claw in the pudding forked tongue taste