Excellent Popeye comic book reprints from the 1940s and 1950s


Archie was created by Bob Montana, but Dan DiCarlo gave Archie and his pals the looks and personalities we are familiar with. Someone at Walt Disney Studios created Donald Duck, but it took cartoonist Carl Barks to transform the sailor-suited waterfowl from a screechy ill-tempered time bomb into a scheming, but good-hearted uncle to three industrious ducklings. And E.C. Segar created Popeye, J. Wellington Wimpy, Olive Oyl, Sweepea, and Bluto, but Bud Sagendorf's incredibly entertaining comic books about the one-eye sailor are the canonical Popeye (at least to me), on par with Little Lulu (created by Marjorie Henderson Buell and brought to life by John Stanley) and Barks' Uncle Scrooge.

My friend and cartoon historian Craig Yoe has been editing collections of Sagendorf's Popeye comics books, published as reasonably-priced hardcovers by IDW. Popeye Classics Volume 1 came out earlier this year, and Volume 2 is forthcoming. Like Uncle Scrooge and Little Lulu, these are great comics to read with your kids. Below, a couple of sample spreads.

Thanks for dedicating the book to me, Craig!

Popeye Classics Volume 1