Slab the Liverwoots

A Fine Aptitude

Truth is Oft a Splendid Disguise

 

Bosh!

 

Dogmatically

Categorically

Watching Those Outlanders

Oh, world-wide, some things never change.

Comin' Like a Valkyrie

Newspaper art was the ultimate of ephemera—read it this morning, wrap your fish in it tonight, so not much printer effort went into nuances of ink. Fortunately Kelly's art was recognized as worth saving, but always in black and white anthologies.

Those dod dummed yellow backgrounds in every panel subtract character from the page design. Kelly's art deserved an art director's deft touch, I say. 

I retract my belief that any new collections of Pogo Sundays should use the original colors of the strips. I go on record as saying that an art director with great sensibility should have the pages re-colored, taking great care in using palettes as befitting Kelly's great artistry.

The Ornery Guy

Now, how in the world, all those years ago, could Porky—I mean Kelly—be writing about me, now—today? How could he know what kind of ornery guy I em?

Secret Martian Automaton

Ah yes. Perhaps this is where Bill Watterson got inspiration for Calvin's death-defying coaster wagon rides? Perhaps not. But, perhaps.

Yes? Yes? Yes?

Yes, superstition can be retroactive.

There Y'Go Again

Grab Flag the Flamin' Flack?

Ah, a full menu of Kelly-speak.

Gee Whiz, Pal

OK, now we get an ample demonstration of the Kelly pre-use of the Seinfeld concept, 'a show about . . . nothing!'

I Be Dod Dummed

Kelly was so unique to the comics page. Who else would go on and on about this kinda stuff? 

Of all cartoonists, one would have been tempted to ask the cartoonist's dreaded question, "Mr. Kelly, where DO you get your ideas?"

Thing to Do is Face Him

It's My Fate

Sorry, this time we really do have to skip a strip, between this and the previous. Lost, it's gone, it is no more. Somewhere in the world it may reside, but not here, not now. It seems to have disappeared along with Miz Beaver. I am so sorry. We can survive, we can get along perfectly well without it .  .  .  . stop looking at me like that.

Gotta Be Believable

Yes, this is how most of us reason things out.

Friends Who are Out of this World

Kelly was really sticking to the same topic, moving ahead with no speed at all.

Ain't No Wild Horse

Heaven Stone the Crows

Absolutely Insane

Owl is more like us than we care to admit.

Bold as Brass

The inside of that whale must be sumpin' else.

So Rare

YAY! Ol' Doc Noah in the Okefenokee!

And YAY! Pogo on a pogo stick! How cool is that?! Walt Kelly was 6 years old when the pogo stick was patented in 1919. 

You're Full of Glomberries

Most Marvelous Thing

Stop Cringing as a Rascal

What a lovely chair. It could have been an any-old-chair, but not for Kelly.

Tell the Mayor to Swallow a Rock

Here's a crowded, funny and (as owl sez) lively Sunday. Kelly had a little more time on his hands again, and boy—we appreciate it. 

Cheerful Charlies are cheerful to a fault. Charlie, this post is dedicated to you.

Ready for Any Contingency

Behold . . In the Bayou

Hmm, that ufo looks familiar.

Glad Somebody Believes I'm Me

Always something to fret over and worry about. A familiar past-time.

A Manufactured Creature

?

Luck and Patience

I haven't had to do this til now, and I really apologize, but here I'm posting a strip that I had to skip earlier because I thought it was lost. I found it, turned on its side in its filing box. 

It's a pretty funny strip. So in the interest of completists everywhere, I'm including it now. If you're saving these, just drop this in with the others and the file name-date will automatically put it where it belongs in the continuity.

Sorry. Thanks. Carry on.

Oh, and look at the syndicate cutline--The Hall Syndicake Ink. Don't know if that was Kelly or his inking assistant, but along with the rest of the strip, it's pretty funny.

The Martian Substitute

Tadaaa. So see, we take up right where the book left off.

Coal or Licorice?

I hate it when I get anthracite stuck 'tween my teeth.

So, this is the way the book Prehysterical Pogo ends, the last strip of the last page.

But hey, we've got my clippings, so we get to end it a little further down the road. Hang in there folks.

Behold, Grassputin, My Son!

Just the Sunday follies, folks, no hidden messages or deep meanin's here.

Salt and Flour On a Stick

There's a lesson here . . . some . . . where . . .

Need One More

Where everyone knows your name . . .

Only One of His Kind

Albert's being a little hard on LBJ.

Come Clean, Pogo

And you know, these news guys that don't know who Pogo is have been coming around for 10 years at this point.

Could Be You Went to Venus

Gotta love Porky's expressions.

Mish-Mash of Facts Marches on!

So, here we are back to the book Prehysterical Pogo (in Pandemonia) for a few more strips. These were also printed in the daily paper, but for these few, I'm scanning the book for cleaner images (also for the sake of completion of the book).

Kelly considered himself a journalist by trade, and yet he skewers these guys from Newslife. Kelly truly identified with the newspaper daily reporters and saw the slick magazine weekly guys as just that—slick—and shiny and full of it and themselves. They were fair game just like everybody else.

House Cleanin' Time

OK, well I believe here's some more Yiddish. Churchy is lamenting "Woe is me". What other comic strip consistently had such fun with language?

WhollySmoke!

To be perfectly honest, I don't get the joke—that is to say, PT's end reaction, why wouldn't he know it would be 3 years?

Mark My Words

What an odd and funny thing to have that 'N' fall from Churchy's words, but be visible to Basher.

A Grinning Monster, Sir

Sometimes Kelly liked to linger with the same point, and roll it around a little, to eke out a little more flavor.

Under-Up-to-Then-Privileged Poverts

Congressman Frog gives us the low-down. Really low and down.

And yes, I know we missed a day between this strip and the previous. It seems to have gone away. I think it would have had the Congressman, er, frog, enter stage right.

180 Million People

Mouse is a character that goes way back in Pogo time. A level-headed worldly fellow from the outside world (maybe Baltimore way). He's essentially political and shows it by his talk talk talk.

Pogo's idea here shows why he's presidensity material. I can almost see that work, but maybe only a couple of days of financing a modern police action.

A Blinkin' Shyme

For an average sort of Sunday, that's a pretty 1st panel, with the tree 'n' all. Too bad every panel has a yellow background.

The Folly of Miserliness

Nobody know the angles like a worm chile. Or something to that effect.