Latner, Ted :: Comic Strips

Bobby London Popeye - October 20, 1988

Artist: Bobby London (All)

1 Comment - 3,739 Views - 2 Likes

Bobby London Popeye - October 20, 1988 Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Bobby London Popeye - October 20, 1988
Artist:	Bobby London (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Comic Strip
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	3,739
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	1
Added to Site:	3/16/2018
Comic Art Archive:

Description

I discovered E.C. Segar's Popeye from reading The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics at my college's library. I became hooked and bought up the Fantagraphics reprints shortly thereafter. If you haven't read this strip, you really should!

While Bela Zaboly, Bud Sagendorf and others did some nice artwork on Popeye after Segar died in 1938, no one came close to matching his creativity and hilarity. when Sagendorf was ready to step down from the daily strip in 1986, King Features took a chance on underground cartoonist Bobby London.

Bobby London brought the characters squarely into the craziness of the 80's while keeping Popeye himself exactly as he'd always been. This contrast between 30's and 80's sensibilities helped to highlight some of the ridiculousness of the day in a hilarious way. London also used a unique style that really worked for the characters, while not looking like a copy of Segar or Sagendorf.

As the strip went on, London transitioned from a joke a day to continuing storylines and occasionally dealt with controversial themes. He was famously fired from the strip in 1992 for an allergory on abortion.

I discovered Bobby London's version from a reprint book called "Mondo Popeye". IDW published a 2 volume complete set of the Bobby London strips in 2014 and I highly recommend it.

For some reason, I never owned a Bobby London original until now. This example really appealed to me, in spite of having a good amount of white-out on it. This is the penultimate strip from an ongoing storyline where Olive Oyl agrees to marry Wimpy, after splitting from Popeye. Wimpy, in classic fashion, calls off the wedding once he finds out that Olive no longer has any income.

Characters in the second panel include Cole Oyl, Nana Oyl, Castor Oyl, John Sappo, Prof. O.G. Wottasnozzle, Sir Pomeroy Vauxhall and Olive's original boyfriend, Ham Gravy.

Amazingly enough, it looks like I'm the first person to post a Bobby London Popeye strip on comicartfans. Hopefully others will follow.

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About the Owner

	Ted Latner ( 10 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	January 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
Ebay Id:	tlatner
Website:	http://www.comicsfun.com
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Ted's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF Read More About TedLatner

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Comments on this Artwork

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David F.
Member Since 2011

1 - Posted on 7/15/2018

Nice strip! Also surprised not to find more Bobby London's Popeye strips in CAF.

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