I Go Pogo

"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.


About the Author
Inducted into both the National Cartoon Museum and the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame, American animator and cartoonist Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr., (1913-74) is best known for his comic strip Pogo. Recounting the adventures of a possum and other animal characters in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the comic was syndicated to newspapers for 26 years. Kelly's career in animation began in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, and his work can be seen in Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo.