Sunday, February 16, 2014

World Champeen Polluters

This Sunday strip seems, to me, to be a sign of spiraling in toward the end of the Kelly era. With still a year to go, there would yet be good strips ahead, including next week's. There's nothing majorly wrong with this strip, but you can see that either 1) Kelly didn't have his heart in it, or 2) that an assistant had a hand it this (possibly Selby?). The renderings of Albert and Beauregard are 'off' just a bit, and the message is heavy-handed without funny dialogue.

I'm not complaining, but just pointing it out, from my POV.

May 14, 1972

11 comments:

  1. I quite agree: Only Pogo (the do-good-er) starting to clean up would have made it even more heavy-handed.
    Thanks anyway, Thom!
    Hun

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  2. Before I even read your comments, I was peering at the art and going, "Man Kelly never draws toes that sloppily." I mean, when he draws them fast, they are still always exactly the same size as the next like keys together on a piano. So my first thought was, "This has to be an assistant's work." Mind you, it's still quality, but you can feel the 'aura' is off.

    - (A)

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  3. Henry Shikuma was Kelly's assistant at this point (who I believe drew the dailies after Kelly's death, while Selby drew the Sundays). You're right--Beauregard in that second-to-last panel definitely looks like something that would appear in one of the post-Kelly strips. This period would have been before Kelly fell really ill, but while he was devoting a lot of his time to the We Have Met the Enemy animated short. So maybe it was a case of divided attention.

    I think Kelly in general tended to be less funny when he was dealing with topics that really mattered to him, especially the environment. Sometimes caring too much can be anathema to comedy. In fact, I think his best anti-pollution strips tended to be the ones that didn't try to be funny at all, but were instead reflective or sad.

    ~Craig

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  4. Random thing I found: http://tinyurl.com/lzprtvl

    "The Pogo Special Birthday Special Albert and Pogo Illustration by Walt Kelly (MGM, 1969). Don Foster wrote that he wore moccasins to work, and while making this film, Walt Kelly remarked that they looked comfortable. So, Don bought Walt a pair, and this original hand-drawn ink and watercolor illustration of Albert and Pogo within the shoes was Walt's gift to Don in return. In Fine condition on board, with an approximate image area of 9.75" x 7"; matted and framed with glass to an overall 16.5" x 13.25". From the Don Foster Collection."

    From here: http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7086&lotIdNo=105026

    - (A)

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    Replies
    1. ....!

      Well, that's certainly not something I ever expected to see our sweet little possum holding! I guess it's apropos to Hun's comment above about Pogo picking up other people's left-behind garbage...

      It was unusual for Kelly to go that "blue," especially with his swamp characters. Definitely a pretty unique (and slightly disturbing) piece!

      ~Craig

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    2. Craig, so many of cartoonists, creators, and other creatures had/have their blue side that they clean up only for public consumption. I've been shocked, I tell you shocked, when I have read of some of the bluer antics of our public idols. I guess the same could be said of many people in everyday life, but idols are up on such high pedestals (I guess it's the pedestals that are made of clay).

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  5. What I'm trying to figure out, now that I have this slightly better resolution view, exactly WHAT Albert and Pogo have there. Looks like Albert has a human (male looking) barefooted leg, a bottle of Chianti, and a lady's leg. Pogo's tossing out a whiskey flask, some cigar butts, and a playing card. What faintly alarms and amuses me is what he's holding in his other hand. What -is- that?

    - (A)

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    Replies
    1. Yes, yes, that's what we're talking about here. It's the very item that one sees, time and again, on a morning walk in the park under a tree, on the shore the morning after a beach party, in a moccasin, apparently, in a cartoonist's studio. I just don't know why people can't pick up after themselves. But at least they were protected!

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    2. You know how animators wear those white gloves so they don't get fingerprints on the cels? Maybe this is the late 60's alternative. Little latex 'finger gloves'!

      Actually, despite how dissonant it is to see this and contemplate the implications, this really doesn't surprise me. Kelly was clearly a man comfortable with his humanity - you'd have to be blind not to see the animal magnetism and charms radiating from Uncle Albert!

      - (A)

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    3. What perhaps shocked me most upon initial viewing was the level of polish. This isn't just a quick racy sketch for a colleague - it's publication-quality! Kelly never did anything half-heartedly, even for work he never intended for public consumption.

      Also, even here, Kelly doesn't miss an opportunity for wordplay. "Unspeakable spoor" is both fun to say and hysterically funny. (spoor = tracker terminology referring to the "leavings" of an animal).

      ~Craig

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