Popeye Plays Golf! er . . "Gorf"

Good afternoon, Kids! So nice to visit with you all again!

Today we have the tried-and-true work of Mr. Bud Sagendorf, the assistant for Popeye creator E.C. Segar. Mr. Sagendorf went to work for Mr. Segar as a teenager, working for $50 a week on Thimble Theater and Sappo. Following Segar's death in 1938, Sagendorf moved to New York City and went to work for King Features developing marketing materials while also developing Popeye toys and games.

From 1948 until 1967, Mr. Sagendorf was the sole artist-writer of the ongoing Popeye comic book across three different publisher (Dell, Gold Key, and King Comics). In 1959, he assumed complete command of the Thimble Theater comic strip.

What I truly love about Bud Sagendorf is that, unlike nearly every other cartoonist I have highlighted on this blog, he (for all intents and purposes) spent his entire artistic life rendering a single cartoon world: Thimble Theater and all the wonderful characters that inhabited the Popeye universe.

Let’s enjoy some of Mr. Sagendorf's bouncy, kinetic work now. This comes from Popeye No. 11, February-March 1950. This is all Sagendorf, including the cover and the back-cover at the post's end.

Well, that's all for now, Kids! Coming up next, shall we try a little Super Mouse by the great Milt Stein? I think we shall!

I will see you all again very soon. Until then, I hope you are all warm, safe, and happy!

--Your friend, Mykal

George Wildman's Popeye

After Bud Sagendorf, my favorite Popeye artist is Charlton Comic’s George Wildman. Wildman’s work is instantly recognizable for its delirious wonkiness. In fact, the term “wonkiness” may very well have been created specifically to capture the feel of the artist’s work on Popeye.

Good pal Stephen DeStefano, knowing of my unabashed affection for the artist's work, recently asked me why there wasn’t more Wildman wonkiness on this blog. Well, let’s get this party started, Stephen! Like a train going off the rails, here come stories starring Popeye, Swee'pea, and Wimpy! Also, Wildman did the awesome cover! This is from Popeye No. 111, December 1971.

George Wildman's Popeye!

In comic books (not the newspaper strip) two artists dominated the drawing of Popeye the Sailor. The first and best known was Bud Sagendorf, whose wonderful work can by seen in Craig yoe's recent Popeye: The Great Comic Book Tales Of Bud Sagendorf. The other artist, who we will be enjoying today, was George Wildman, who drew the squinty-eyed sailor for Charlton Comics from 1969 until approximately 1978. I just love the heck out of Wildman's nice, thick line (and his Wimpy in the second story is about perfect!). This is from Popeye No. 100, February 1970.

Professor O.G. Watasnozzle (here spelled "Wotasnozzle") was a Segar creation - a kind of mad (more silly than mad) scientist whose madcap inventions fueled many stories, like the following:

This ad from the same issue. I can't say I ever considered freckles "disfiguring." I always thought they made a girl look cute!

POPEYE in "Boom! Boom!"

This Popeye story, "Boom! Boom!" is from Popeye No. 23, Jan-March 1953. The artwork is by my favorite Popeye artist, Bud Sagendorf.