Bronkster

Just saw on Amazon that the 8th volume of Pogo will be coming out October 26!

Red Hood

Has the early Popeye strips, including his first appearance, ever been reprinted? I see that Volume 1 by Fantagraphics covers only 1928-1930 but the early years from 1917-1927 are nowhere to be found. Also, all those Fantagraphics edition seem to be out of print. Has IDW taken over releasing this?

Bronkster

The Fantagraphics book does cover Popeye's first appearance - from 1929. I think the 1919 date is coming from when Thimble Theatre first appeared, which is the strip he appeared in - later changing to Popeye.

As for any not out-of-print books ...

Red Hood

That's exactly what I'm looking for. The Thimble Theater era. IDW released this book called Thimble Theatre and the pre-Popeye Comics of EC Segar, but the actual Thimble Theaters with Popeye, including his first appearance, don't seem to have ever been reprinted/released

Bronkster

Do you mean never reprinted other than the Fantagraphics book? Because Popeye Book 1 "I Yam What I Yam" includes the Thimble Theatre strips leading up to - and including - Popeye's first appearance. As for any other books with Thimble Theatre, no idea.

Red Hood

Oh, cool. I misread your previous post and thought that they weren't included. And sadly, yes, Fantagraphics no longer has this book available. I wonder if IDW plans to release something similar in the future.

Bronkster

Since we don't have a "regular" comic strip thread, I'll comment here. For a number of years I've been reading a strip called Endtown on gocomics.com. It's a world where, after WWIII, half the population turned into anthro animals due to a mutagenic virus, and the remaining humans have to live in biosuits to avoid the virus. And the humans want the anthros dead. This has been one of my must-read strips due to the amazing art and writing. For anyone who enjoys the comic strip format, I strongly urge you to check it out. Gocomics.com is free, but there are 4 books out now, and I would also urge anyone who likes Endtown to support the artist and buy the books.

Bronkster

So, I read the first Buz Sawyer book awhile ago and really enjoyed it. Started the 2nd one yesterday. Sitting down today to continue I was shocked to find the book is missing six pages!!! I can't express how disappointed I am in this! And since it's been a few years since I got them, I doubt there's any way I could return the bad book. Does anyone else have the 2nd Buz book? Are pages 33-38 intact?

Paul_SD

Oh man, that sucks Bronkster.
I just checked mine and no issues. I hate to tell you this, but those are some pivotal pages too.

I don't have a scanner, but will try to photograph them and post them here so you can at least read them.

You may also want to contact Fantagraphics and see if maybe they can hook you up with an exchange. Amazon still shows it as in stock, so it doesn't appear to be OoP. It's also the least expensive of the four volumes right now.

Bronkster

I thought about contacting Fantagraphics, but since I got it off Ebay I don't know if they'd do anything. I may snag another off Ebay (after verifying the pages) since that seems to be the best price.

If you're able to post 'em, that would be greatly appreciated. I saw enough of page 39 to know that a MAJOR event went down!

Paul_SD

I'd still contact FG- just don't tell 'em you got it off ebay. Tell 'em Amazon. It's not like it would matter. Either they'll replace it for you or tell you to go pound sand. It's their QC anyway that is the whole problem in this case.

Paul_SD

Those should be huge files. Don't know why the software here is compressing them so small.

Let's try this

pg 33



pg 34



pg 35



Paul_SD

Pg 36



pg 37




pg 38





Yeah, that's probably the most famous sequence in all four volumes. Fanta needs to make that right.

Bronkster

Wow, thank you so much for that! I've saved 'em so I can read 'em tomorrow.

I guess it couldn't hurt to contact Fanta. It's been awhile since I've pounded sand anyway!

davidh777

That sucks, Bronkster—sorry that happened to you. I just checked my copy, and the pages are intact. Glad Paul_SD was able to assist. And yeah, those were important pages. I started reading vol. 2 a while ago before getting distracted, and according to my bookmark, I had just finished that sequence. Maybe I needed some time to recover?

Speaking of Roy Crane, I have only one volume of Captain Easy but feel like I should get the others before they go out of print. I just got the hardcover Caniff book from IDW, and it makes me want to dig into my copies of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, but I have only one volume each, and a lot of the others are OOP. I’d love it if more of these classic strips went digital but it doesn’t look like anyone cares much about that.

Bronkster

Taking Paul_SD's advice, I started a message to Fantagraphics on their website, but paused to go through the book to check for any further problems. Yup! Pages 51 thru 56 are also missing, but in this case are substituted by repeating pages 45 thru 50. So I included that info in my note. I'm not holding much hope that they'll do anything, but the book now is basically worthless to me as I won't continue it. I'll go as far as Paul's photo'd pages, but that'll be it until I get a replacement.

I do have another question for either of you guys: does the book end with page 210? The first volume had acknowledgements and such, but this one just ends. Bam. No nothin'! Given the other problems, I'm thinkin' this ain't right either.

davidh777

After page 210, I have one page of author and editor credits plus some acknowledgments.

Bronkster

Welp, missing those too, then!

Nick Danger

Bronkster, that bites.

I finished Barnaby Volume 4. There is a change of tone halfway through. In the first half, one adventure is when Mr O'Malley goes to the United Nations and triggers outrage on conservative radio. In a typical adventure in the second half, he accidentally catches jewel thieves. The introduction to the book says that author Crockett Johnson knew some of the people who were hauled before the HUAC, and he got a lot more cautious. The strip dropped the political satire and became more child-friendly.

Now I'm reading Pogo Volume 7: Pockets Full of Pie. I'm only reading about two pages a night before I turn out the light, so it will be a while before I finish it.

Bronkster

I finished that a few weeks ago. I still have nothing but the highest praise for the strip and eagerly await the 8th volume which comes out in October.

Nick Danger

Definitely get the rest of Captain Easy. Great artwork. You know how most artists of the era, when their characters went to China, drew generic 'Orientals'? Roy Crane drew Uighurs. Also, his horses make me laugh every time.

Bronkster

Holy crap, I think that's possibly the most disturbing scene I've seen in a comic strip!

davidh777

Yeah, it’s pretty shocking. Not kid stuff for sure.

Nick Danger

You just made me buy Buz Sawyer volumes 1 and 2. I hope you're happy.

ETA: There was one new copy left of volume 3 on Amazon. The prices of the used copies look like they're climbing. So I got volume 3 as well.

Bronkster

A wise decision - as long as the books have all the pages.
edited to add: I just looked for Vol.3 and the prices are kinda high! Hope you got a good deal on yours.

Years ago I was trying to get the li'l Abner books that Kitchen Sink had out. Volume 2 was missing pages from 32-65. I seem to attract defective books.