I Need Your Input

OK, so we're at the point I warned you about a while ago. I would like your input. Not just from the loyal few who have left nice comments along the way, but bunches of you that have passed through like silent ships in the night. I've been keeping track for the last couple of months, and some 20,000 visitors have stopped in and made some 45,000 downloads. Well, that's really cool, so I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing.

I want your opinions on where to go from here. Here are some options:

1. Stop where we are, it's been a lovely journey, but just stop.

2. Keep on going, chronologically, even though the storylines are back in the Okefenokee and, well, just sort of so-so sometimes. I'll be out of dailies after just a little while, but I've got nearly every Sunday for the next couple of years, and then some.

3. Delve into the books a bit, like the Pogo Poop Book, and others, that have some unusual stories and great art.

4. Maybe a combination of 2 and 3, weaving back and forth.

Now here's the biggest question I need help on: If I keep going, should I continue on this site, maybe changing the title appropriately? Or should I start a new 'blog, maybe dedicated to Kelly work, Pogo and Non-Pogo, and leave this site stand as-is, just dedicated to Pandemonia?

I don't mean to put myself up as THE expert on Kelly, but I am a (long) life-long fan and collector of all things Kelly. Some of what I would post might have been posted elsewhere, but you know I love large clean scans. Eventually I would run out of stuff, but it would take awhile. 

Or again, I could just stop, cuz boy this is a lot of work and I'm not in this for money or glory. I just love Kelly's work. And, of course we'll have the Fantagraphics series coming out (I hope) sometime, so maybe what I'm doing here ain't necessary.

Help me out, let me know what you think. I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing.

I watched Kelly draw this drawing in January of '66, when Pandemonia was just hatching in his mind. He whipped it out, impromptu, with marker on newsprint. I have other original drawings of his, even better, that I'll post some time, some where. 

Pandemonian Original Art

Here's some original Pandemonia art gathered from the internet by Michel Francois. While not in high enough resolution to learn much, it's still fascinating to see. Those that you see below with red numbers are panels that were drawn just for the book, and the numbers indicate which page of the book they would be published. Thank you Michel.

More Extra Panels

Extra Panels

In the interest of completism (apparently not a real word), for you completists (okay still not a real word), for all you people who love Kelly, here are some of the extra panels from Pandemonian Sunday strips that came in too late to be included with the regular posts. Thank you again to Ger Apeldoorn.

Each panel has a date on its file name, so if you have been collecting all along, just dump these into your file and they will find their way to their appropriate continuity.

Nothin' Like It

Sadly, this is the final panel of the Pandemonian story. It's a beautiful celebration, as Kelly was wont to do throughout his cartooning career.

Of course it wasn't the end of the Pogo strip. It would go on with new strips for another 4 or 5 years, with much fun and frivolity. But Pandemonia was certainly the high water mark.

The next few posts will be some highlighting of some special panels and showing some of the extra and original art from the arc and such. And then I will actually continue, without breaking the continuity, the next couple of months of strips, a kind of aftermath of Pandemonia.

Keep 'tooning' in. Still a bunch of cool stuff to come.

Welcome Back, Pogo!

We're all in this together. None of us are truly alone.

HEY!

Completely Ka-Pooed

How Dopey Can One Be?

I'm dopey on the dates of this and the next few posts. I don't have the exact dates, but they are in appropriate order. The dailies were skewed one direction, the book another. For all I know different papers ran different strips (not likely). Here I've put them in the order that seems to make sense. Let's just go with that, shall we?

Ruddy Game is Skunked Out

See, this daily, when it was printed in the paper, didn't have the caption of "a few hands later", but the book did because it was bridging its own continuity. And because I'm missing a few dailies, I'm not sure what the true continuity was. But really, we're not missing anything major here.

Flippetty Flip Flip

This is where confusion on my part is rampant, since I'm missing a few dailies here. I'm not sure if this is extra art for the book or only half of a regular daily, but at least we know it's part of the continuity. My dates on this and the next few file names may not be accurate, but they are such that they will stay in proper order if you are keeping a file folder of them.

How Can You Stonker Off

The question has come up as to whether Basher, the kangaroo, might be based on an actual person. As you can see, either Basher or a close relative of his figured in a poem about a mustache, back in the late fifties, part of which is shown below:

And we know that Basher was brought on stage for the 'Mars' story back in 1956 for the Olympics in Australia, and looked a bit simpler back then. NOTE/WARNING/CAUTION, the strip below is NOT part of the current Pandemonia continuity. It is from 1956:

 
Anybody have any insight on the Basher character?

Prolly Many Reasons

From this point on I've gotten really confused on dating the strips. I'm missing some dailies, the book jumps around, some of it might be extra art, etc, etc. Sorry, but I'm making best guesses. Soon we will have gone through the book in its entirety, but I've still got my clippings of dailies and Sundays.

Today is Walt Kelly's birthday! He was born 96 years ago. The drawing of Kelly, below, is one I made in a library from an old file picture that couldn't be checked out.

April Fool Weather

That's it, it's official. They're baaaack. But don't go away, the story's not over.

See Ya This Arvo

A n d . . . WHUMP . . . we're back in the Okefenokee. To crash land in the U.S.A.  because of pteros is a bit peculiar, but hey, it's toon logic. It's a bit sad that we never see Pandemonia again, but the strip rolls on.

Oh, I Hate This!

One of our top correspondents, Jim Engel, sent over this photo of the original art for this daily. Walt Kelly sent the art and the letter below to Jim's friend Ray Cioni, who had written to Kelly asking for an original, which arrived in the mail right after the Apollo 13 mission. Wow, what a peach of an original.

Wup! Ptero Patrol

These two panels have my vote for portraying the most action/adventure that the Pogo strip has ever seen.

Where the Funnel Be

Jes' Figgered It Figgered

Nothin' Like That is Shedjuled

A Husky Simpleton

The Gentle Journey

Many thanks for the comments and emails. The people who follow this blog are wonderful and much appreciated. Walt Kelly allus said  we 'shouldn't take life serious, it ain't nohow permanent', or something to that effect. We all lose loved ones, blessings to each of you.

Excerpted from Walt Kelly's poem, 

With Apologies to a Year Gone By

Sorry, I need to suspend posts for a couple of days. We've had a death in my wife's family.

A Gala Date

They'll Never Get Up

Hold Fast Now, Chums

 

Ain't No Boomin' Room

Hold Your Breath

Dang!

Off We Go, Mytes!

I don't want to bum you out, but this is the last Sunday strip to take place in Pandemonia. I'm bummed. I wish there were a hundred more, but keep tuning in anyway. We still have to finish the story. And then . . . and then . . . well, there's other cool Kelly stuff yet to come, so for heaven sake, don't go away.

Old No.1 Mouse

Safest Airline in the Blinkup World

Give the Blinkin' Prop a Ruddy Twirl

Woosh—Albert's swearing sounds pretty close to the real thing.

Stiff Kenyon

An Icarus Plummet, Series S.O.S. May-Day Model

Captain Caniff's Clever-Clipper Clue-Book

Milton Caniff had one of the biggest and best morgues ever. Clipping files that filled filing cabinet after filing cabinet after filing cabinet.

Pandemonia Airways

Kelly's continuity between Sundays, dailies, and the book was a little rough at this point. But what matter? It was all fun.