Denying' Me My Birthright

If Kelly was still producing a Pogo strip today (if only), Li'l' Awry would still only be a week-old girl rabbit . . .

March 31, 1965

A Boon to Womankind

Kelly jes' goes on and on about nothing, but at least we now have Li'l Awry around to make things cute . . .

March 30, 1965

It's Actually About Nothing

Li'l' Awry is giving the Jerry Seinfeld network pitch!

March 24, 1965

Talkin' About Multi - PLOO - cations!

Me an' My Big Fat Hippocritical Oaf!

Once again, I'm sorry it's taking me so gol' blame long to post stuff here. I'll jump in here where and when I can!

March 17, 1965

Go Home Lunk

Of course, Kelly was a survivor of sorts of the Great Disney Strike.

March 16, 1965

Us Potential Victims

Sorry I'm slowing down on posting here. For one thing, I really am close to exhausting my stash of Pogo Sundays that I clipped from the paper from 1963 through 1973. You've seen a LOT of Pogo Sundays between 3 of my blogs. A LOT. The other thing is that I'm in a very busy time of my art career, which is amazing, but it too is exhausting . . . ME!

So, I'm not giving up here, just slowing down and prepping non-Sunday Kelly material. So hang in there all you Kelly-holics. Good stuff is yet to come. Here, I'm going to start a little run of dailies from 1965 that way back then I pasted into a scrapbook album. I trimmed the edges too close and it's dingy newsprint, but still it's Kelly that you prolly haven't seen. This first one is from 51 years ago TODAY! I'll post the rest of the short run as I can, and we'll go from there.

Look at that $#!%-eatin' grin on Owl's face!

March 12, 1965

Jump an' Throstle with Joy

This is another Easter Sunday strip that has avoided being posted until now. It's silly and sweet. I do believe that Lulu Red-Ride-An'-Hood is really Li'l Awry who played a big part in the dailies around this time of 1965 —wow— fifty years ago!

First Day of a Brang New Year

Oh, good golly. I've missed posting a Sunday, Kelly Sunday strip. We had a little party last night, with some guests staying over, rather than risk the roads. I will get the Sunday strip posted later today, but for your trouble of checking in, here is a cute little strip appropriate to the day.

Check back later today for the last strip of the current arc.

Ain't No Pied, Dagnab, Piper

Bugs are always the first to turn on you, but all the others ain't far behind.

Another rememberminder that tomorrow is the end of this particular daily regiments. I think some of you will be sad of that, others are feeling it's 'bout time. I've got mixed emotions, cuz I love seein' these strips assembled like this, but phew, it's a lot of work assembling the strips like this.

After tomorrow, I'm taking a few days off (from posting—not from work). But I'll be back on Sunday and then maybe we can do some confabulatin'.

But there's still tomorrow. Come back then!

Quarter Past August

Saturdays were special back then even in the middle of summer vacation, sort of like double freedom if that makes any sense. Maybe it was a carry over from the school year that Saturday was the day of exploration and giving in to daydreams. It was the day I sorted comix and comic strips. It was the day I would paste the strips into albums.

It's a strange feeling to know what I was doing 45 years ago this very minute.

An' Waldo, the Watchfish

This strip has nothing to do with our current storyline, but it is the next consecutive date. I can see why the book reprints would either drop some strips or rearrange them into story groups.

Stout Heart!

All That Dangormley

Or Should I Obey and Disobey?

Everyday we all have little dilemmas.

Bagstabbin' Blink-Eyed Door

What a Exciting Scene!

Me an' My Bay-Bee

Isn't there just something, indefinable, but really evident of the special quality of Kelly's artwork? Looking at this strip. . . the facial expressions, of the lamb in the 2nd panel and of Li'l' Awry in the last panel, the characters feel somehow real, even though we know they're only cartoons. I feel comforted by looking in on the characters in Kelly's Whirled. Most other comic strips have a superficial quality, the art seems manufactured.

Oh gosh, I'm not explaining this right. Somehow I need to come up with the words that communicate this. Anyone want to give it a whirl, if you even get a hint of what I'm saying here? Many many of you feel Kelly's art and style is more than just good art--what is it, why is it that it reaches us on an emotional level? This is something I just have to find the words for.

Boy, that lamb really has the patter down of a promotional campaign.

The Month of March

OK, to be timely I could've/should've/would've posted this grouping of strips at the beginning of March. But I didn't, and it's not gonna hurt anybody that I'm doing it now. And it's better now, maybe, then, oh, say August. But even if I had waited 'til then, so what, right? My mission here is to jump all over the place—Kelly here, Kelly there. Still, it's not even the middle of March, so this is sort of timely, not that I need to be, mind you.

This is the first of ten consecutive strips. They're old and brittle (like me), so please don't mind the yellowing newsprint.

The Birthday Season

That's quite a nickname for Kelly's wife of the time, and a lovely birthday greeting for her.