Walt Kelly

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 day: 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 strips, 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, each volume has a surprise foreword (Jake Tapper, Sergio Aragon s, and Neil Gaiman have contributed).

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 day: 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 strips: 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 Aragon s, 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.

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 day: 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 strips: 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 Aragon s, 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.

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 Five having been released in December 2017- this sixth volume finishes off the complete reprint with Pogo Parade! 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.

Walt Kelly's Peter Wheat comics are renowned for their humor, artistic flair and appeal to both children and adults. The Peter Wheat comic books are extremely rare and have never been collected as a series before, due to their scarcity and rarity. Between 1948 and 1951, Kelly drew thirty-five issues of The Adventures of Peter Wheat, a sixteen page comic book given away to bakeries to promote Peter Wheat bread. The stories were fairy tales starring Peter Wheat, an elf-sized boy who lived in a hollow tree on the edge of a wheat field where he and the Little Folk battle Dragonel, Queen of the Hornets. While created with kids in mind the mythology spun in these stories is timeless. “Coupled with Kelly's incredible artwork, this series of stories, which run in arcs, are indispensable in Walt Kelly's canon of work,” commented Dr. Thomas Andrae, editor of this series. Peter Wheat production history was written by Walt Kelly biographer Steve Thomson for this volume.

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.

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 Three having been released late last year — this fourth volume reprints the complete issues #7-11 of Pogo Possum. 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.

High quality reprint of the original activity books for children of Peter Wheat, published from the Breads and Bakers Associates and distributed by Dell Publishing during the Golden Age. Inside you will find coloring pages, crosswords, mazes and many other time-killer games that would thrill kids and adults alike. With art by animation and comic book legends Walt Kelly and Al Hubbard! Still fresh and funny after 60 years!

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.

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 1953 and 1954's daily 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 Volume 3: Evidence to the Contrary 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 plus the usual in-depth Swamp Talk historical annotations by R. C. Harvey, spectacular samples of Kelly's work scanned from original art, and a whole lot more

In November of 2011, Fantagraphics released the first volume of its much-anticipated, long-promised series reprinting in its entirety the syndicated run of Walt Kelly's classic newspaper strip, Pogo. Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Wonder immediately became the company's best-selling book of the last five years. A year later, simultaneously with the release of the second volume, Pogo: Bona Fide Balderdash, Fantagraphics will also be offering a gift box set containing the first two volumes, complete with a handsome, collectible slipcase (and for $10 less than the cost of the two individual volumes). This box-set initiative has been very warmly received by fans, retailers, and grandparents looking for gift ideas on our Peanuts and Mickey Mouse book series, and we fully expect to further cement the runaway success of this new addition to our burgeoning classics line. The first two volumes collect the first four years of Kelly's magnificent strip, including the initial three years of Sundays published in full, restored color for the first time in book form The books also include all the dailies (of course), meticulously retouched by Kelly's own daughter (who edits the series), historical essays by Pogo historians Steve Thompson and R. C. Harvey and famous-friends-of-Kelly Jimmy Breslin and Stan Freberg, the pre-syndication "Daily Star" iteration of the strip, color guides from Kelly's own hand, and much, much more.

The Rascals are back in another 100-plus vintage full-color pages of rollicking comedy and high adventure. Created in 1946 and 1947, these stories show Walt Kelly refining the style that would serve him so well for his later masterpiece--Pogo. Much of this fourth volume is taken up with an extended four-part cycle of stories--almost a graphic novel, really --in which Froggie and the Gang (including Julip the Goat) ship out with Professor Gravy on his showboat for an engagement downriver, which results (of course) in a series of action-packed adventures involving fisticuffs, gunfire, fireworks, and horse thieves. All this, plus more mundane kid pursuits such as a hotly-contested baseball game. As always, series editor Steve Thompson is on hand to provide fascinating behind-the-scenes details on these marvelous stories. For anyone who loves those simple, innocent post-war times, the Our Gang stories are as refreshing as a five-cent glass of home-made lemonade on a hot summer day.