Popeye: Well Blow Me Down!

I'm going to keep praising these oversized collections of the original Thimble Theater newspaper strips that introduced Popeye until everybody in the world has a copy or borrows one.I can imagine there is a generation of kids out there who don't know who Popeye is, who didn't see the Fleischer cartoons that used to be on all the time when I was a boy. They're missing out! The strips aren't that much like the cartoons to be honest. The strips are humorous action strips with a bit of social commentary thrown in. Popeye doesn't need to eat spinach, he's naturally tougher than old boots, able to be shot a dozen times or drink poisoned water and still keep walking. Olive doesn't dote on Popeye, it's the other way around and Popeye has quite the eye for the ladies. Oh, and Olive is quite tough. There's a great scene in this collection where Olive has been kidnapped by desperadoes, and is being forced to cook for them. As each desperado comes in for food and insults Olive's cooking, she shoots them in the shoulder and dumps them in the cellar. That's the tone - good-natured violence and aggressiveness.There is a mixture of black and white four panel strips and Sunday page long colour strips in the collection. A personal favourite story is the One Way Bank, where Popeye opens a bank that only gives out money. This was the depression era after all.This is brilliant stuff, funny, biting stuff. You owe it to yourself to buy this!

Just what my 10 year old Grandson expected and I will be buying the next volume for him very soon.

Heaps of very funny stories, biting social and political satire. It's so good to see such treasures made available from so long ago.Wonderful Things!