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Popeye the EverymanRediscovering the weird, wonderful, working-class hero of the original Popeye cartoons. Plus: Why spinach.

By Keith PhippsPosted Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007, at 7:23 AM ET

Click the launch module to the left for a video slide show on the original Popeye comics and cartoons.

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Like his fellow pop-culture icons from the early 20^th century—Mickey Mouse, Dick Tracy, Buster Keaton—Popeye made such a big boom in his day that we are still hearing the echoes. Yet while most everyone knows the basics—the spinach, the drawn-out courtship of Olive Oyl—the sailor who first captured the American imagination has long since faded into obscurity. The Popeye of E.C. Segar's comic strip took part in bizarre adventures populated by a cast of Dickensian characters. And the Popeye of the original animated shorts was a workingman's hero, delighting Depression-era audiences by surviving in the big city with his fists and little else. The Saturday-morning-cartoon versions of Popeye that most of us remember, however, sanded away what had made the original character interesting, leaving only a genial tough guy with a diet rich in leafy greens.

Two recent projects have taken steps to restore Popeye to his original glory. Last fall, Fantagraphics Books published E.C. Segar's Popeye: "I Yam What I Yam," the first of what will be a six-volume collection reprinting Popeye's original comic strip appearances. And this week, Warner Home Video released Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, a four-DVD set compiling the restored, uncut versions of the Popeye cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount. The former made Popeye a household name; the latter made him a global superstar and a box-office draw whose popularity rivaled Mickey Mouse's.

Click here for a video slide show on the original Popeye comics and cartoons.

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Keith Phipps writes about movies for and edits the A.V. Club. He's also one of the editors and authors of Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists.

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Remarks from the Fray:

I remember watching the black and white Popeyes as a kid in Kansas City in the 1970s. One element that was common to a great deal of them, particularly during the war years, was a blatant racism that I'm sure would be quite shocking to modern audiences. Japanese soldiers with huge buck teeth and thick glasses, for example.

It would be interesting to know if these cartoons were included in the DVD collection or whether they have, like some early Disney and other animations, shoved this element of Popeye down the Memory Hole. However uncomfortable the representations make us today, it would be a shame if they are not reflected in the set reviewed.

--BlueEyes_Austin

(To reply, click here.)

E.C. Segar who wrote Popeye was a very wise man who was subtle but direct. The comic strip Popeye was his attempt to get kids--and adults too--to eat spinach and vegetables and to use olive oil in cooking. Segar knew about the Italian use of olive oil and its health enhancing properties and also spinach--and vegetables.

Children then did not care much for vegetables unless the parents had taught them to eat vegetables and the vegetables were seasoned to taste. The cheap cooking oil was just terrible--lard--and it was deadly: heavy grease really and hog lard was used mostly, very thick and hard to digest.

Segar knew that children were just getting into sweets and it bothered him so he devised a way to tell children and parents to eat their veggies and use olive oil and "knock" out bad blood--Bluto.

--Al Morrison

(To reply, click here.)

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