The Spirit of Kelly and His Art

Good morning and welcome to a personal celebration and examination of the art of Walt Kelly, known to the official stats as Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr.

Everything you REALLY need to know about Kelly is shown above in Kelly's own words and pictures. Anything else is like the chewy filling at the center of a bon bon—not necessary, but it makes a sweet treat.

This 'blog is going to be about Kelly from my point of view, having been enamored of his work for half a century. I meant nothing to his life, having met him but once, but his work was quite meaningful to my life, and —yay— now I have the opportunity to share my collection as well as my thoughts and feelings along the way.

You may or may not be aware that I've already shared what I could of Kelly's Pogo in Pandemonia arc, which you can see here. To me that was pretty much the masterpiece of his career. But that is not meant to devalue all the rest of his work, which is at rarefied heights of cartooning excellence.

Many Kelly fans own or have seen much of what I'll be posting here. I'll do honor to the stuff by scanning big and clean. But there will be things that many people of all generations will not have seen, and for them the magic will be anew. And for you people that have all this stuff and more that I haven't seen, please share your thoughts and maybe your images, and let's all keep the spirit of Kelly and his art alive and well.