Pogo

Pogo was the title of a long-running daily comic strip created by Walt Kelly, as well as the name of its principal character. Pogo, set in the Georgia section of the Okefenokee Swamp, often engaged in social and political satire through the adventures of the strip's funny animals. The strip also used much slapstick physical humor; the same series of strips could often be enjoyed by young children and by savvy adults on different levels.

History

The characters of Pogo and Albert were created by Kelly in 1943, for issue #1 of Animal Comics, in a story called "Albert Takes The Cake." Both were created as comic foils for a young black boy named Bumbazine, who also lived in the Swamp. Kelly found it hard to write for the human boy, preferring to use the animals to their full comic potential, and eventually phased Bumbazine out. Pogo quickly took center stage, assuming the straight man role that Bumbazine had occupied.

Related Topics:
Animal Comics - Straight man

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1948, Kelly was hired to draw political cartoons for the short lived New York Star newspaper, and decided to do a daily comic strip featuring the characters he had created for Animal Comics. Pogo debuted on October 4, 1948, and ran continuously until the paper folded on January 28, 1949. On May 16 of the same year, the strip was picked up for national distribution by Post-Hall Syndicate, and ran continuously until Kelly's death from diabetes in 1973. Kelly's wife, Selby, and assistant, Don Morgan, continued the strip to fulfill contractual obligations, before retiring it in 1975. The Los Angeles Times revived the strip under the title Walt Kelly's Pogo in 1989, written at first by Larry Doyle and Neil Sternecky, then by Kelly's son, Peter; but interest waned and the revived strip ran only a few years.

Related Topics:
1948 - Political cartoon - New York Star - October 4 - January 28 - 1949 - May 16 - Diabetes - 1973 - Los Angeles Times - 1989 - Larry Doyle - Neil Sternecky

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~