I yam what I yam, kinda

Posted on November 13, 2024 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Thimble Theatre was a 10-year-old comic with waning readership when its lead character Castor Oyl hired a wisecracking sailor to crew a ship he’d bought. Popeye left after their ocean voyage ended, but audience appeal brought him back after a few weeks away. He wasn’t fully developed in 1929, lacking spinach and not yet Olive Oyl’s beau, but would soon be star of the strip and of an ongoing multimedia franchise. In 49 days, his earliest adventures will be public domain.

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About John Mark Ockerbloom

I'm a digital library strategist at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.
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1 Response to I yam what I yam, kinda

  1. smd2006's avatar smd2006 says:
    December 23, 2024 at 10:00 am

    I’ve been reading these strips the last few days, and they are so interesting! Popeye joins as a one-time character for this adventure plot sailing with Castor Oyl, who ostensibly feels like the main character, and then he leaves for an entire month before he is brought back in. Crazy that he goes on to take over the whole story. He’s still pretty flat, but he was so entertaining that I get why he becomes the main character.

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