Best Selling Books by Walt Kelly

Before achieving international fame as the creator of Pogo Possum, legendary cartoonist Walt Kelly produced an outstanding body of work adapting and illustrating fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes for Dell Comics in the 1940s. Already an indisputable master of his craft, these wonderful and whimsical stories come to unparalleled life through Kelly''s signature, spirited humor and fluid, exuberant hand. Comprised of carefully selected and rarely seen work that originally appeared in issues of Dell Comics'' Fairy Tale Parade, Four Color, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and Santa Claus Funnies, this volume is a vital part of the history and legacy of one of comics'' most eminent and influential masters.

This is the first time Pogo has been complete and in chronological order anywhere—with all 104 Sunday strips from these two years presented in lush full color for the first time since their original appearance in Sunday newspaper sections. In Volume 6, Albert Alligator and Beauregard Bugleboy fend off a man-from-Mars, and Howland Owl investigates Communist espionage in the postal system. Then, it''s election year and Okefenokee Swamp gets a new presidential candidate.

Pogo: Bona Fide Balderdash is the second volume in a series reprinting in its entirety the syndicated run of Walt Kelly''s classic newspaper strip. It features all the strips from 1951 and 1952, which have been collected before, but in now long-out-of print books, and even there they were not as meticulously restored and reproduced as in this new series. Bona Fide Balderdash also reprints, literally for the first time ever in full color, the two full years of Sunday pages, also carefully restored and color-corrected, shot from the finest copies available.

Walt Kelly''s Pogo: the Complete Dell Comics Volume Five; ISBN: 978-1-61345-127-4; 192; all color; all art and script by Walt Kelly; hardcover; $50. Following on the heels of Hermes Press'' critically acclaimed Eisner nominated reprint of Walt Kelly''s Pogo stories from Animal Comics, Four Color Comics, and Pogo Possum in Walt Kelly''s Pogo the Complete Dell Comics Volumes One and Two ― with Volume Four having been released in November 2016― this fifth volume reprints the even more issues of Pogo Possum, #12-#14. Walt Kelly''s Pogo, acknowledged as one of the most important and influential comic strips of all time, first appeared not in newspapers but as a feature in the Dell comic book anthology Animal Comics, as well as in Dell''s Four Color Comics before getting its own title, Pogo Possum in 1949. It was here, in the four color world of comic books, that the feature and its characters grew and matured, ultimately becoming one of the world''s most famous comic strips. Now fans of Pogo can see it all from the beginning with Hermes Press'' reprint of the complete Dell Comics Pogo. Noted comics historian Thomas Andrae observed that with Pogo, "Walt Kelly created a strip that is both poetic and graphically stunning as well as an important commentary on our times." With Hermes Press'' complete reprint of Dell Comics Pogo admirers of this groundbreaking comics feature can now witness the strip''s evolution, in an archival hardcover, digitally reconstructed to perfection.

"A true natural genius of comic art." — Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey Starting in 1948, Walt Kelly''s newspaper-based comic strip Pogo lampooned sociopolitical issues from the Red Scare to the environmental movement. A gifted cartoonist who began his career at Walt Disney Studios, Kelly explored the virtues and follies of human nature with a lively cast of Okefenokee Swamp critters. Kind-hearted Pogo Possum headed the crew, which included intellectual Howland Owl; exuberant Albert Alligator; poetic mud turtle Churchy LaFemme; romantic hound dog Beauregard Bugleboy; and other impish personalities. Even readers too young to appreciate the strip''s satirical elements were charmed by the eccentric creatures and their offbeat wordplay. This compilation features comics from the election year of 1952, during which Pogo''s neighbors encouraged the reluctant possum to run for president. Their rallying cry, "I Go Pogo," parodied Dwight D. Eisenhower''s "I Like Ike" slogan and provided real-life fans with a write-in candidate. Kelly''s sly humor and flair for creative language—replete with malapropisms and nonsense verse — retain their imaginative verve for comics enthusiasts of the twenty-first century.

Fairy Tale Parade was first published, by Dell Publishing Co., in June 1942 and it ran for 9 issues until November 1944. The series is now critically acclaimed primarily as it showcases work by a true comic book great Walt Kelly. Kelly had recently left Walt Disney Studios and it was Walt Disney who advised him to work in comics. The publishers were obviously extremely pleased with Kelly''s work as at the front of issue #1 was a Foreword which is reproduced beneath: ''Fairy Tale Parade is an attempt to bring to young and old a series of picture books of folk tales and stories of many lands - not as a shortcut to reading but in the hope of instilling the desire to read and re-read the fairy tales, legends and myths of bygone days. ''Often we have longed for more pictures in our favorite fairy tale book. Now Walt Kelly, the artist who drew all the wonderful pictures in this book, makes our wish come true. So, let us go with him into the land of trolls and wicked witches.'' ''Let us tip-toe through enchanted palaces past deep dungeons where iron chains clank and rattle, meet giants and tiny dwarfs. Let''s step into the fairy ring and meet the little people.'' Cover art by Walt Kelly. Thumbelisa, pencils by Walt Kelly. Little Black Sambo, script by Helen Bannerman (original text), pencils by Walt Kelly; Little Black Sambo runs into tigers in the woods. The Story of Hansel and Gretel, art by Walt Kelly. Winkie and the Wishing Well, art by Walt Kelly. The Flute O''McTootle, art by Walt Kelly. Big Claus and Little Claus. The Sleeping Beauty, art by Arthur E. Jameson. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Prince Joel text story. The Wise Men of Gotham. The Nose Tree, art by L. Bing. The Tail of Rufus Redfox, script by Gaylord Du Bois; Rufus Redfox, proud of his pure red tail, gets caught raiding Squire Beaver''s grapes, catches what for, concocts a fable of the Boogly Bird, is scoffed at, goes home, creates a Boogly Bord of tar and feathers, scares Squire Beaver into giving up goodies, is found out, gets his tail tip burnt; the fur will grow in white, now all red foxes have a white-tip tail. Beauty and the Beast, art by Arthur Jameson. The Legend of the Stars, art by Walt Kelly; Bright and Glum are sprites in charge of day and night; Glum gets depressed and decides not to work anymore. The Gingerbread Man, pencils by Walt Kelly; The gingerbread man can outrun everyone, but can he outrun a wiley fox? The Frog Queen. The Wild Swans, art by Arthur E. Jameson. Saku, art by Bill Brady. Cover art by Walt Kelly. The Dragon of Dilly Dun Dee, art by Walt Kelly. The Ugly Duckling, art by George Kerr; Adapted from the story by Hans Christian Andersen. The Brave Prince; Adapted from the Hungarian fairy tale. The Mermaid, script by Gaylord Du Bois, art by Arthur E. Jameson; The mermaid falls for the prince, strikes a deal with the sea witch, but the prince marries another, and mermaid girl dies. Walt Kelly cover and art. Sinbad the Sailor, the Three Little Dwarfs, Jack and the Beanstalk, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Cover art by Walt Kelly. Prince Robin and the Dwarfs, art by Walt Kelly. The Legend of Saturday Mountain, art by Arthur E. Jameson; A Polish fairy tale. The Snow Queen, script by Gaylord Du Bois, art by L. Bing; adapted from the story by Hans Christian Andersen.

One of the Golden Age of Comic Books perenniel Christmas favorites was the great Santa Claus Funnies published by Dell between 1942 and 1961 Actually, Dell wasn’t the first publisher to produce Santa Claus Funnies. A couple of years earlier in 1940, Whitman published a one shot comic with the same title. Published near the end of 1942, features some of Walt Kelly''s earliest work for Dell Comics. He illustrates a tale by Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree (also published with some changes as a W T Grant Co giveaway comic the same year), and a poem by Stella Mead, Lord Octopus Went to the Christmas Fair. Other artists contributing include L Bing (Santa Claus in Trouble), Arthur E Jameson (The First Christmas Tree), and Robert A Graefa (Santa Claus and the Mouse). Collection Includes: All the Walt Kelly material from, Santa Claus Funnies 1 & 2, Four Color Comics 61, 91, 128, 175, 205 & 254

This is the first time Pogo has been complete and in chronological order for the first time anywhere―with all 104 Sunday strips from these two years presented in lush full color for the first time since their original appearance in Sunday newspaper sections. In this volume, the Okefenokee gang decide to dig a canal to compete with the Suez (as soon as they can con one of their own into doing the digging) and consider going back to school. Among other hi-jinx, a flea comes a courtin'' Beauregard the Dog.

Walt Kelly blended nonsense language, poetry, and political and social satire to make Pogo an essential contribution to American “intellectual” comics. As the strip progressed, it became a hilarious platform for Kelly’s scathing political views in which he skewered national bogeymen like J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace, and Richard Nixon. Walt Kelly started when newspaper strips shied away from politics ― Pogo was ahead of its time and ahead of later strips (such as Doonesbury and The Boondocks) that tackled political issues. Our first (of 12) volume reprints approximately the first two years of Pogo ― dailies and (for the first time) full-color Sundays. This first volume also introduces such enduring supporting characters as Porkypine, Churchy LaFemme, Beauregard Bugleboy, Seminole Sam, Howland Owl, and many others. And for Christmas, 1949, Kelly started his tradition of regaling his readers with his infamously and gloriously mangled Christmas carols.

Pogo, a possum by trade, first appeared in a comic-book feature called "Bumbazine and Albert the Alligator" in 1943. Six years later, he was on his way up through the newspaper columns into the homes of millions of Americans. Today Pogo is as household a word as "blueberry pie," "who''s-got-the-funnies?" and "probabobbly-me." Here now is the official tenth-anniversary history and commemoration of Pogo, spelled out in a selection of daily strips, Sunday pages, Pogo book stories and a sprinkling of verse, all wrapped up with a running commentary on this past decade in the Okefenokee Swamp and elsewhere by Walt Kelly. Life in the Swamp and life in the Elsewhere have more than a passing resemblance, as Pogo readers have long been aware. Kelly''s creations are deeply embroiled in everything from Presidential elections to atomic bombs, from civil liberties and juvenile delinquency to schools and the Olympics, from beatniks and baseball to taxes, TV, togetherness, and just plain fun. This book is an attempt to answer the flood of letters over the years, asking, demanding, begging, cajoling and petitioning Kelly to gather together some of his work as a permanent collection. So here it is: ten ever lovin'' blue eyed years - with Pogo and his friends and with the assorted pleasures and calamities, real and fancied, that have in these uneasy years shaken their world and ours

This volume includes a pig with an ominous resemblance to Nikita Khrushchev and a scruffy goat who looks exactly like Fidel Castro. Both assure Okefenokeeans that a one-party system is the way to go; all will be well economically, they explain, because "the shortage will be divided amongst the peasants." Other storylines spotlight Kelly''s remarkable cast: Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Howland Owl, "Churchy" LaFemme, Beauregard Bugleboy, Porky Pine, Miz Ma''m''selle Hepzibah, Deacon Mushrat, and so many others. All 104 Sunday strips from those two years are included, with supplementary features (including comprehensive annotations and index) by comics historians R.C. Harvey, Maggie Thompson, and Mark Evanier.

It''s in this volume (featuring another two years worth of Pogo strips) that we meet one of Walt Kelly''s boldest political caricatures. Folks across America had little trouble equating the insidious wildcat Simple J. Malarkey with the ascendant anti-Communist senator, Joseph McCarthy. The subject was sensitive enough that by the following year a Providence, Rhode Island newspaper threatened to drop the strip if Malarkey''s face were to appear in it again. Kelly''s response? He had Malarkey appear again but put a bag over the character''s head for his next appearance. Ergo, his face did not appear. (Typical of Kelly''s layers of verbal wit, the character Malarkey was hiding from was a Rhode Island Red hen, referencing both the source of his need to conceal Malarkey and the underlying political controversy.) The entirety of these sequences can be found in this book. But the Malarkey storyline is only a tiny portion of those rich, eventful two years, which include such classic sequences as con-man Seminole Sam''s attempts to corner the market on water (which Porkypine''s Uncle Baldwin tries to one-up by cornering the market on dirt); a return engagement of Pup Dog and Houndog''s blank-eyed Little Orphan Annie parody Li''l Arf and Nonny; Churchy La Femme going in drag to deliver a love poem he wrote, Cyrano style, on Deacon Mush-rat''s behalf to Sis Boombah (the aforementioned hen); P.T. Bridgeport''s return to the swamp in search of new talent; and of course two rousing choruses of Deck Us All With Boston Charlie.

In addition to presenting all of 1955 and 1956''s daily Pogo strips complete and in order for the first time anywhere (many of them once again scanned from original syndicate proofs, for their crispest and most detailed appearance ever), Pogo: The Syndicated Comic Strip Vol. 4 also contains all 104 Sunday strips from these two years, presented in lush full color for the first time since their original appearance in Sunday sections 60 years ago.

Walt Kelly''s Pogo, acknowledged as one of the most important and influential comic strips of all time, first appeared not in newspapers but as a feature in the Dell comic book anthology Animal Comics, as well as in Dell''s Four Color Comics before getting its own title, Pogo Possum, in 1949. It was here, in the four-color world of comic books, that the feature and its characters grew and matured, ultimately becoming one of the world''s most famous comic strips. Now fans of Pogo can see it all from the beginning with Hermes Press'' reprint of the complete Dell Comics Pogo. Noted comics historian Thomas Andrae observed that with Pogo, "Walt Kelly created a strip that is both poetic and graphically stunning as well as an important commentary on our times." With Hermes Press'' complete reprint of Dell Comics Pogo, admirers of this groundbreaking comics feature can now witness the strip''s evolution, in an archival hardcover, digitally reconstructed to perfection. This volume reprints Pogo Possum issues #3-6.

The Little Rascals join a riverboat show!