Walt Kelly, 1954, The Incompleat Pogo, Simon & Schuster. The book begins with a famous quote from Mark Twain, or was it somebody else? The book is strewn with con artists, weather predictors, babysitters, groundhogs and bugs, like usual. The circus beckons, crawfish menace, and the most popular meal outside of Pogo's house is fried fish, fresh caught. The big news though is that the pup dog is missing. Kidnapped? Simply lost? All the brains available are on the case. Uh-oh. <br><br>The way this case is prosecuted bears a striking resemblance to some real life misbehavior of human-type groups. Suspicions are suspected and soon taken for facts. It's kind of sad that 3/4 of a century later things haven't changed much. We meet the Times Picayune (New Orleans) weather frog, and the interior of Albert Alligator is fearlessly explored. This leads, naturally, to an affair of honor, and Bun Rab carries the hose the entire time. Soon, we meet Roogey Batoon, the Louisiana pelican. Following all the bruhaha connected with that, Owl decides to found a school, Okefenokee U. Sis Boombah, the formidable chicken, is recruited to coach the football team. As plans for the big game stagger onward, love rears its ugly head. Then, disaster! As might have been predicted. This is one of the classic books, in the sense that certain themes that come up again and again in the strip, do so most extravagantly here.
