We've reached the 5th of 6 volumes of Elzie Segar's years writing and drawing Popeye and finally get the introductions of fan favorites Eugene the Jeep and the indomitable Poopdeck Pappy. The story picks up where the previous volume left off with Popeye as the "Dictipator" of his own island of Spinachovia populated exclusively by males who are now rather discontent at the utter absence of females. Let me step back for a moment and say that I have given all 4 volumes thus far five stars and volume 5 will get the same but I can't deny that this opening portion rather dragged. Since these comic strips were intended to be read one a day they have a lot of repetition and recycling of jokes. When a reader reads months of strips in a single sitting the amount of joke reuse becomes painfully apparent. The story starts to heat up when the King Zlobbo of nearby Brutia decides to declare war on Spinachovia. Big Mistake.
Popeye is an inspired creation with a gold mine worth of humor potential that only Segar was able to fully tap. The difference was that Segar took Popeye to his absolute extreme and the original comics play out like a parody of future comics and cartoons. When Popeye fails to get the men of Spinachovia into any kind of fighting condition he simply takes matters into his own hands and begins tearing the Brutian battleships apart with his bare hands and smacks the Brutian Admiral across the face. Ripping apart a battleship is something Superman might do (a character nearly a decade Popeye's junior) but Popeye was simply a poorly educated sailor with grand ideas. It was Popeye's colossal strength and inhuman ability to survive damage that allowed him to try and realize his dreams but his utter lack of social convention generally doomed him to failure. Popeye is often not a kind man but his strength shields him from repercussions. As the war with Brutia intensifies Popeye walks right up to King Zlobbo and says, "I came to ast for peace - but after takin' a look at yer ugly mug... I just got to smack it - aye - ya got a chin I loves to touch!!" and then delivers a thundering roundhouse. There is nothing Zlobbo can do except fume in frustration at his invincible foe. In a later story an assassin unloads five bullets into Popeye's chest only to have the sailor cough them into his hand and toss them on the ground. What can you do against a man like that? Popeye doesn't hold back on delivering punishment on anyone perceived as giving him the merest slight. If one of Popeye's citizens lodges a complaint he'll likely get a punch to the mouth and if he won't eat spinach Popeye will cram it down his throat. Popeye does because Popeye can and no one can stop him.
As much as I love the dailies the Sunday comics may be even better. For one thing there is much less repetition and for another there is a tremendous emphasis on Segar's other great creation J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy is such a clever, amoral character he could have easily headlined his own cartoon. The Sunday comics also tend to pack a bigger wallop. In one comic Popeye is waiting on Olive when a mild looking suitor wanders in. Popeye pivots yelling, "Who the *bleep* are you?" (I mentally substitute actual curse words and I don't insert "heck") and nails the guy in the teeth with his oversized fist. For the next seven panels he pummels the guy until he's left punch drunk slumped in a chair. The violent reaction of Popeye is in itself the joke and the humor is in the brutality that Popeye dishes out. Segar's genius was in rendering these hammering punches like nobody else ever could and Segar had the bravery to offer no apologies for the violence. Popeye is who he is and Segar rendered him thusly with no regret.
For all Popeye's violence and short temper he's also a man who'll give his last penny to help orphans. He wouldn't use the Jeep's unerring pre-cognizance to win money at the racetracks because he didn't want children to see him gambling. Despite his bad grammar and brawling he sees himself as a gentleman and his philosophies of life are altruistic to a level that approaches saintly. In one hilarious lack of self awareness Popeye tries to teach Pappy grammar even as he mangles the English language. Perhaps Segar rendition of Popeye could only thrive in the depression era but he infused his creation with a level of depth and humor that no other writer or artist in any medium has ever captured. Fantagraphics presentation isn't perfect and I've always found the blown up images on the front cover rather odd in the way it slices the image and presents the bottom of the frame on the top of the cover. I have no idea why they chose to go this route. I also think the die cut is better in theory than practice. On the other hand this collection includes the essential Sunday dailies which other collections have not. In the end Segar is the best writer and artist to ever handle Popeye and Fantagraphics collection is the best and most complete yet.
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Pierre-Jacques G.
POPEYE What's a Jeep - Parfait, tout à fait ce qui est annoncé et livraison rapide
Reviewed in France on March 11, 2016