101320

 

when Fri. 13th

falls on a Tuesday

black Tuesday

012020e

Volume 6 of the complete syndicated Pogo is now out!

http://www.fantagraphics.com/pogo6/

Publishers have tried to reprint some or all of Pogo before, but these books are huge. Large hardbacks in which the glory of the original artwork is displayed for the first time. Every syndicated panel, including those that never appeared in book form before. If you like Pogo, even if you have copies of all the original books, these large panel will show you things you never noticed. And that's the only way you can get new Pogo.

Also, these books are available in digital form.

061619c

Finished the 5th volume (covering 1957-1958) of Pogo newspaper strips from fantagraphics.com: Mind-bogglingly awesome. A huge number of these strips never made it into the books, including many Sunday (color) strips. You can't see these anywhere else. (All previous Pogo books are out of print and expensive.) Large hardback, high-quality paper, excellent reproduction, illuminating front- and back matter. Best syndicated cartoon until The Far Side.

052119

blowing my check
on a single book
priceless




Fantagraphics.com reprints ALL the Pogo.

021119

Friday the 13th
falls on a Wednesday this month
time to pull your head in
and wait for love

020119b

http://www.fantagraphics.com/pogo5/

I really want this book!!!

051318

Friday the 13th
falls on a Sunday this month
for good luck I pray

031318b

Friday the 13th
falls on a Tuesday this month
don't panic!!!

012318e

Got my 2016 birthday present today, which I pre-ordered Worth the wait! Walt Kelly's Pogo v. 4, Under the Bamboozle Bush, with foreword by Neil Gaiman. Nothing less than the greatest newspaper comic strip there ever was. These strips from the mid-1950s include the best slapstick ever in a comic (possibly equaled by Calvin and Hobbes). This volume includes the Great Thinking Contest! Printed large in a handsome hardback. Go to fantagraphics.com and order it right now!

http://www.fantagraphics.com/pogo4/?sef_rewrite=1 

I am glorying in the marvel that is this book. From the days before political caricatures were prevalent in Pogo, though it does include Pogo's 2nd presidential campaign.  The drawing is absolutely incredible, and when it's printed at this size I see things I never noticed before.

111717

Rereading Pogo's Reflections on Elections. Normally I don't buy books that excerpt others, but I'm a completist wrt Pogo. Only one I bought twice was Potluck Pogo. Copy I bought in HS fell part: cheap glue.

100917c

Rereading "Beau Pogo," a book I bought in the late 70s. Still crunchy & good! Waiting for Fantagraphics' long-overdue 4th reprint vol. w ill-concealed impatience.

091317b

Friday the 13th falls on a Wednesday this month.

it snuck up on us
a turtle tiptoeing without its shell
a toothless quaver
missing its mark

060817b

One of the most wonderful things about comic strips is that the author/artist can put all sorts of subtext and additional material in the background. For instance, in the "Pogo" comic, by Walt Kelly, almost all of the characters live in hollow trees. Most of them have their names nailed to boards over the door. Albert alligator has a sign that says "Albert" over his door. Except, in one strip it says "Atbler." Why? I have no idea. Albert is illiterate, as are most of the denizens of the swamp. It seems random, but likely isn't. Any Pogo fans have an idea about this?

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Fantagraphics.com is reprinting all of the original Pogo newspaper strips from the beginning in large and very well produced hardback volumes. Three are out so far, and the fourth is due out in a few months. The strips are reproduced in a much larger size than they have been in two previous attempts to reprint Pogo comic strips that I know about and it really is beautiful. Wajt Kelly combined slapstick and politics the way almost no other humorist ever has and if you like comics or politics you have got to see these. Plus, I want you to buy the books so that Fantagraphics will be able to afford to keep printing them. No attempt to reprint all of Pogo has ever been successful, and I believe the reason is that the publishers haven't sold enough copies. So help me out here! This is a national treasure.

060216b

Bees sense of electric fields with their heirs. They use these to detect the electric fields emitted by flowers, but how long will it be before we turn this capability to our own ends?

The walls have a short inside
bumbling along.
hairs rising on the back of its
here, here the field is wrong
the GPS chip chirps

But what is wrong to a bee
may not be what you seek
and as for the short
"Jes fine" says bee

052316

Gopher Yerguns
short & furry gunslinger
strode under the saloon's swinging doors
hit the deck! someone screamed
alas
that put Bad-Nose Bill
wanted from Trash, MO
to What!, WY
right at Gopher's level
by, Bill



Thanks to Walt Kelly & whoever invented BNB.

What! is not a real town, as far as I know.

Pogo as haiku

this reesippy
keeps abooblin up
foreign body

Happy Valley Times Day, Bun Rab

36 Valentinesez
in a row is quite a lot
of poetry
(not counting this)

Evidence to the contrary

One of the best Christmas presents ever, the third in fantagraphics' massive hardcover reprints of the greatest comic there ever was: Pogo, by Walt Kelly. This is not the first time that someone has tried to reprint Pogo, but it is by far the best. It was the best political satire available in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Herblock was good, he was very good, but his single-panel cartoons were no match for the Okefenokee Swamp. Not only was the political wit incisive, the slapstick was just unbelievable, and even now, in what I believe to be the golden age of independent comics, no one does drawing better. So, by this book. Buy multiple copies and give some away. I need fantagraphics to persist until they have done every Pogo strip the newspapers. I think it lasted for 23 years, and so far they have done approximately the first four of them. So much goodness is still to come!

Walt Kelly was almost the only one with the courage to go up against Sen. Joe McCarthy. The wildcat Simple J Malarkey is an uncanny parody. It's all in this book.


http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/pogo-the-complete-syndicated-comic-strips-vol-3-evidence-to-the-contrary-.html

051312

Friday the 13th falls on Mother's Day this month.

in months
without no R in them
get thee under cover

"'Momma isn't stirring
Since my daddy's been in stir.'

"Natural, this was a wench I used to spoon with."


Conclusion of the ditty begun earlier this morning. (From memory; may be a bit off.) And Pogo is back in print!

http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/pogo-vol.-1-of-the-complete-syndicated-comic-strips-through-the-wild-blue-wonder-pre-order-10.html?vmcchk=1