Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comics Strips: Vol. 8: “Hijinks from the Horn of Plenty”

by Walt Kelly, Lucy Shelton Caswell (Foreword)

Collects the years 1963 and 1964 of the classic newspaper strip whose political satire feels more timely than ever.  Walt Kelly's newspaper comic strip Pogo was a platform for Kelly to express political satire and commentary via a wildly entertaining, motley group of swamp critters. He tackled many of the sociopolitical issues of his the Red Scare, civil rights, the environment, consumerism. But the strip is also a joyous, poignant, beautifully drawn, and occasionally profound work of 20th-century popular culture. It is such an all-time classic it is hard to believe that this series marks the first time that Pogo dailies and Sundays have been published in complete and in chronological order anywhere. Not only does each volume contain two full calendar years of restored black-and-white daily it also includes all 104 Sundays from the same period. For the first time since their original appearance more than 50 years ago, the Sundays are in full, glorious color!
Edited by comics legend Mark Evanier and Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds, with supplements and resources by comics historians R.C. Harvey and Maggie Thompson, each volume has a surprise foreword. (Jake Tapper, Sergio Aragonés, and Neil Gaiman have contributed.) Each dust jacket spotlights gorgeous, hand-painted "collaborations" between Kelly and cartoonist Linda Medley, the acclaimed creator of Castle Waiting .
Color and Black & white

Genres: Humor, Comics

344 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2022

About the author

American animator and cartoonist best known for the classic funny animal comic strip, Pogo. He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1951 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their Silver T-Square Award in 1972, given to persons having "demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession."

Reviews

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a couple of volumes with less political satire, this one feels like the 1960s are properly underway. Political enough (though usually nonpartisan in his satire) that Kelly produced duplicate strips for a few weeks to satisfy editors who were too touchy about running the topical strips in the weeks leading up to the 1964 election, these collected strips from 63 and 64 are another terrific time capsule of an everyman's -- or everypossum's -- view of the collective madness of the mid-20th Century.

The one, tiny drawback I'm finding from having the opportunity to read every Pogo strip is that the bits between the current events become fairly repetitious as Kelly goes through his seasonal and holiday tropes. You can practically see him coast. It's a minor quibble though because access to the collected art and humor of one of America's master satirists is worth a little over-familiarity.

Absolutely recommended.