Popeye, Vol. 5: Wha's a Jeep? Hardcover – March 15, 2011

Who loves it this is just one of the whole edition that he has collected. I don't know what else to say and I cannot believe that there is a required amount that you have to say to be able to review something, what's up with that?????????

I love Popeye and E.C. Segar.Perfect seller and fast consignmentBeautiful format, great editionUnfortunately only 6 booksI am very satisfied of the purchase

If the great answer is 42, I think I may at long last have the accompanying question: what is Popeye's age? I inferred this while reading Popeye, Volume 5: Wha's a Jeep?, and while it may not help with understanding the nature of life, the universe and everything, it is an interesting tidbit of information.For those who are only familiar with Popeye from the cartoons, the source comic strip is a nice surprise. While some of the early Fleischer cartoons had merit, for the most part, Popeye cartoons were mediocre, hampered by the same plot structure every time and mediocre animation. The comic strip, however, is a pleasure to read, both visually and in writing.For those unfamiliar with the comic strip, it was actually called Thimble Theater and originally featured the Oyl family, most notably the siblings Castor and Olive Oyl. When Popeye was introduced (nearly ten years into the strip), he quickly took over. Fantagraphics has assembled all the strips by the original creator, E.C. Segar - both Daily and Sunday - into six volumes, all of which are now available.Segar pretty much kept his Monday to Saturday stories separate from the Sunday ones, so the volumes start with the daily strips and then - in color - show the Sunday strips. As a bonus, the Sunday strips also feature Segar's accompanying strip, Sappo.The Volume 5 dailies start with Popeye has king of an island. His subjects - all men - are pretty fickle, loving Popeye and then hating him, depending on how well their demands are met. Eventually, Popeye will return home, where he will acquire a Jeep, an amiable creature that can predict the future, among other things. This series of strips will end with the search for Popeye's dad, Poopdeck Pappy.The Sunday strips have their own storylines, starting with Popeye, Olive and Wimpy going gold mining. As is common in this strip, any riches obtained will soon disappear. A later storyline deals with Alice the Goon becoming the babysitter for Sweet Pea. The only disappointing thing is the Sappo strips: previously, they were entertaining comics, particularly focusing on bizarre inventions and their unintended effects; in this volume, they are mostly just demonstrations of drawing pictures.While I have glossed over the plots, it is the writing that makes these comics so much fun. E.C. Segar was good at creating stories with lots of wit; sadly, he would die in his forties, depriving fans of a larger body of work. Others would succeed him, some better than others (the strip is still running), but the original remains the best.

Somebody had to say it.Popeye is one of the most beautiful characters ever created for the comic strips, and Vol. 5 in this ongoing series from Fantagraphics exemplifies the beauty of these volumes that finally do justice to this American comedy classic. Each book measures 10.5 X 15 inches, just about the right size for the lower bookshelves but big enough to allow six daily strips per page as well as high quality color reproduction for the Sunday pages. There are supplemental features including a new introduction by Rick Marschall and a reproduction of pictorial article from "Modern Mechanix" about Elzie Segar and his hobbies.As for the beauty of Popeye the character (as well as the "Thimble Theatre" strip), flip ahead in the book to page 130 and take in the sequence from 1936 in which the Sea Hag sends Alice the Goon to Popeye's house to kidnap baby Swee'Pea. Alice was one of the most hideous, frighteningly ugly creations in this or any other comic strip, somehow even more so when dressed in female attire. But Swee'Pea, in wisdom beyond his years, sees more to Alice than meets the eye, and eventually, so does Popeye. Sequences like these abound in Segar's strip, hilarious and at the same time, gut-wrenching in their human insight. There are no ugly people in Popeye's world except for those who make themselves so. And this is the key difference between Segar's original creation and all the spinoffs and sequels that have followed from other hands. The Fleischer cartoons and the continuations by Bud Sagendorf and others have all had their high points, but not one has captured the humanity of the original.Fortunately, we can all now savor the richness of Segar's masterpiece in books that are worthy of its greatness. If you haven't read any of the others, start here and dig into the "Jeep" story. If that doesn't hook you, nothing will.