Enough to Make a Man Run Away

1966 and '67 was a remarkable period of work for Kelly, with not 'just' Pandemonia, but a high water mark for his artistry throughout, with beautiful rendering and surplus of details. In the 1966 strip directly below you'll see that he didn't need to show Rackety Coon playing ball or the bird and candlestick perched above Mister 'Coon. But doing that adds to the charm of our viewing!

And it's fun to pull up a strip, below, from 10 years before, that supplied a similar gripe of Mister 'Coon.  I think most of us married mens have felt like this at one time or t'other (only for a moment, dear).

July 6, 1957

No Doubt

I jes' loves seeing Kelly's artwork in its original state, blue pencil and lush brush strokes. There were times when some strips might have had an assistant's help here and there, but it was Kelly shining through it all!

January 31, 1954

Little Cheerful Charlie Chums

This page is a little bit rough, but it gives you a pretty good view of the Sunday strip published on this date in 1962. I love that first panel line-up . . . well, heck . . . I love all the panels.

April 29, 1962

Oh, To Be a Easter Bunny

For fans of Albert (of which I count myself among), this is a perty fun performance, specially the seegar in the bunny suit routine.

April 22, 1962

Fact? FACT!

Just so you know, I'm having troubles again with this Blog site, giving me all sorts of trouble signing in and such. So, until I figure out the problem, I might be off from here for a while. I'll catch up with you when I can!

Long Live Kelly (He certainly loved HIS seegars)!

April 8, 1962

Nuts and Bolts

Another Sunday in 1962, so here's a Kelly specialty drawing.

Notice how the Rackety Coon Chile is miffed with the flea-bitten raccoon coat. And I'm assuming this is a dual-squirrel engine.

For better or worse: my shading.

Nuts and Bolts

A Happy New Year

Heart-felt wishes for a good year of 2019 to you all!

I hand-colored this beautiful Kelly art several years ago as part of my tribute to his 100th birthday, and, well, it kinda says it all.

Let Nothing You Dismay

I never get tired of seeing Kelly's original art, specially when it's festive!

Christmas 1964

Silently Steal Away

You just didn't see this kind of adventure in the other strips. 

Steve Canyon, eat yer heart out!

November 23, 1952

From the Simon & Schuster book, below is the extra panel that would run in the 3-tier horizontal newspaper format.

WANT TEA?

Moving along into September 1952, a little vaudeville . . .

September 7, 1952

Oh 🎵 3,679,40 and 1 🎵

Now, where was we, before being interrupted by one of the most divisive and ugly American politiwockle events, which is far from over. Indeed, what would Kelly have made of all this? But also knowing that he reserved Sundays for fun and frivolity for children and children at heart. 

So,  we plunge ahead with our continuity!

July 20, 1952

Them Ears is Blindin'!

Who knows why someone thought Rackety Coon Chile was a white kid, but 1952 is still my favorite Kelly year.

April 13, 1952

Yoicks! Yoicks!

Kelly had a full house when he played the 'cute' card. Cute art, cute characters, cute shenanigans—without being sugary. I can't think of another cartoonist that could out-cute him.

April 6, 1952

Thanks and Giving

That address is not valid, but the sentiment and art ARE!

I miss Walt Kelly and new work of his all these years later...

but thankful he was around at all!

Peace and Harmony is Our Fightin' Words!

Sorry to be late in posting here. Halloween festivities kept me busy 'til all hours — my fa-vor-ite frivolity.

Here is more Christmas Carol frivolity, one of Kelly's fa-vor-ite themes every year.

December 15, 1968

All Big Fishes Get Away

Simple and sweet—sometimes Kelly had to take a breather from the hoo-roar of Albert and all the other numbskull shenanigans of the swamp, and what better way than with Pogo and Rackety Coon Chile...

Another scan from my dwindling stash of strips that I clipped decades ago, never dreaming that I'd get to one day share it with you, wherever you are in the world.

July 27, 1969

Anonymous, The Magnanimous

I know some of you have said that if it comes to either not cleaning up a Sunday strip or not showing it at all, you'll take it dirty and disheveled. I jes' hate puttin' em out dirty, so I do a hurry clean if I can, which is what I've done here.

Yippies and Paul Krassner were in the spotlight at the time of this strip. Krassner, having been a founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies), was a potent rabble rouser and was famous for prankster activism. 

This attorney fox guy looks like Seminole Sam, but isn't. And check out the worm's false nose and 'stache mask in the first panel, before he disappears (maybe squooshed under all that excitement?). And that's a pretty tree, isn't it?

HAPPY SUNDAY, KELLY SUNDAY! LLK

November 3, 1968

All Big Fishes Get Away

A lot of us love the slapstick antics of the swamp guys, the bombastic behavior of Albert, the bickering brotherhood of Howland and Churchy, the booms and blasts of fireworks and explosions that punctuate Kelly's story lines. But sometimes enough is enough of that stuff and we can use a little breather of quietude. 

Right in the middle of the brick-throwin' cat episode, Kelly gives us this sweet interlude with Pogo and the Rackety Coon chile, hinting that Pogo might make a great father if he wasn't so dogbone shy around female folk.

Next week's strip picks right up from last week's.

July 27, 1969

The Birds and Bees Convention

Well, at this point I'm losing track of continuity. I went into the Army in early 1972, so I'm amazed I have any strips from that year or the next, as I was busy learning to lay waste to people who didn't believe in the western ways of Democracy. I think my mother may have been saving Sunday sections for me, but I'm not even sure of that. Somehow I have a selection from those last two years of Kelly's creation, but evidently not all.

Now this guy, below, is a real oddity. It has two characters that are totally unknown to me. I have a couple of Sunday strips just prior to this one, but I'm hesitant to share them with you, because they're, well, truth to tell—lame. Either Kelly was very sick, or his assistants were not very good. This pirate guy shows up in at least one of them, but with no explanation as to who he is. And that bird with Churchy's visage is just plain creepy. I seem to be missing some strips from a month or two before this, so maybe there will still be an explanation yet to be discovered (Hun, I've tried to access the archives that you've sent me, but they don't seem to cover this time period. Do you have records of this arc, however poor their condition may be?).

This particular strip seems solidly Kelly, whereas the previous two that I have are painful to look at. Do any of you Pogo fans want to see them anyway, out of continuity, or just allow them to hibernate?

December 12, 1972

In the Cool and Peaceful

This is a case of Kelly adding on a big section of art to an existing panel for use in one of the early S&S books. 

I'm posting it here in high resolution as Kelly's art deserves.