Where's the Fire Brigade?

Wow, hey look kids! A Walt Kelly panorama with Brownies, which I like to imagine to be in the same whirled as Peter Wheat!

From Four Color Comics #192 — The Brownies — 1948

Our friend Barry has sent over a batch of comics of which this is the center spread of one. You can see why some old comics are missing center spreads, if they look like this, maybe they ended up taped to bedroom walls.

Mysterious Wizard

These are exciting times here at Whirled of Kelly (not that it's ever been comPLETEly dull around here), with Kelly treasures being brought into the light of day after decades of isolation in dark dusty archives.

Between the new collection series offered by Fantagraphics, and some really old Sunday strips coming up for sharing by DJ David B., and still more episodes of The Adventures of Peter Wheat still being unearthed and shared by OtherEric of The Digital Comic Museum, not to mention I've still got some swell stuff from the '60s — well, it's a winning scenario for Kelly fans everywhere.

Speaking of which, why aren't there more Kelly fans 'tooning in and leaving comments about their thoughts and feelings and memories and inspirations regarding Walt Kelly? Thank you to all who are following and commenting, but this blog has been around long enough that there ought to be more of you enjoying the fruits of our labors. Your comments are the rewards for us, and we'd like to hear from more of you more often. Tell us what Kelly's work means to you. There's no limit to the length of your comments, so weigh in.

For those of you who have shared materials and not yet seen it posted, hang in there, I've been on a fast track, and I will get those materials up and running in the next few months. And those of you who have made requests, fear not, you have been heard and they will be honored as soon as I can arrange them.

In the meantime, thank you once again to OtherEric, our intrepid correspondent in the faerie kingdoms of the wheat fields, with another dispatch that ties into other episodes that have been posted previously. I hope you're keeping track by issue, 'cause this is issue #25, part of a continuity.

I'll point out in advance that a cloak of invisibility is in use in this episode, long before JK Rowling pulled one out for Harry Potter. Yes, it has been a device used before Kelly in the history of fiction, but this one almost seems like a direct inspiration for Rowling. Possibly not, but between wizards and magic throughout these tales, you never know . . .

Santa Sends for Help

Some time ago, OtherEric, of the Digital Comic Museum, sent over another issue of The Adventures of Peter Wheat, and I'm just now getting around to cleaning and tweaking the scans. I appreciate OtherEric's patience when that happens. He works so hard tracking down rare issues and scanning and sending, and then I just seem to dawdle around with 'em.

This is issue #21, and you may think it's a little early for a Christmas number, but if you'll look closely at the opening narration box, it says "The Christmas SEASON is approaching", and that's SORta now.

Thanks again Eric!

I jes' love to zoom in and look closer at Kelly art, i.e. the panels below:

The panel below 'freezes' the action so perfectly:

The Trap

YaHoo! More Adventures of Peter Wheat! Thanks as always to OtherEric for the scans and the ever persistent tracking of issues that are consistently hard to find.

This is issue #15, a continuation from one our earlier posts, and with OtherEric's efforts, we're bound to see it continued someday or other in issue #16. But each issue is an adventure unto itself, and this one is pure Kelly (jes' love Kelly's mice!). Have fun.