Now we come to one of my topmost favorite Kelly Sunday strips, the holy grail of my childhood, then seen only in black and white in the 'Pogo Sunday Book'. Color makes it so much more fun for me, looking like a page from the best comic book of all time. Imagine Sunday comic sections ever looking this great!
I was, and still am, such a geek for stuff like this.
December 7, 1952
Included here are the equivalent pages from the book just so you can compare how the panels were edited, doing some expanding.
I'm surprised to see Melonbone saying "Oh, he do got a mean mush on him" in the third panel. In the continuation (in the book) he says only things like "Goomba roomba boo hop," on which one of the other gnomes comments, "I thunk ol' Melonbone coonent talk."
ReplyDeleteI'd guess Kelly didn't think of making Melonbone talk like Grundoon until after this strip was submitted. Then when editing for the book he fixed the inconsistency by taking out the "mean mush" comment from this scene.
I think I prefer Melonbone's later character. But seeing the line that got removed may help explain his own "mean mush" in panel three.
Larry, I thought the same thing on all that, but couldn't find the words to describe it, so thank you for articulating that.
DeleteShould Melonbone's name be in your index? I think he's the only gnome with a gname (unless there's a surprise coming that's not in the book).
ReplyDeleteGood point, Larry, I done did it! I appreciate all your input!
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