Popeye Vol. 1: "I Yam What I Yam" (E. C. Segar)

This essential collection of Elzie Segar's 1928-30 "Thimble Theatre" comic strips marked the hilarious debut of Popeye the Sailor - popular culture's first superhero. Initially a supporting character, the lovably gruff individualist became a dominant force in Segar's surreal universe. Published in 2006, "I Yam What I Yam" includes a memorable introduction by Jules Feiffer (who is rather dismissive of the spinach-fortified Fleischer cartoons). The first volume definitely whets one's appetite for the 1931-38 Segar reprints.

The book is more than I expected. Pages and Pages of strips! And the story behind the story is amazing. We've always been Popeye fans...since childhood. The adoration grows when we read this book as adults!

What makes this first volume great is that it doesn't start with Popeye's first appearance but weeks before. Really neat to see Thimble Theatre without Popeye in it. Makes me wanna see volumes of all pre-Popeye Thimble Theatre strips. Segar showed himself a grade-A cartoonist even before the famous Sailor Man entered the picture :)

As much as I respect the old Fleicher Studios for producing some wonderful Popeye cartoons that became an integral part of establishing him as a worldwide phenomenon I think they did him no favor in moving him into an urban environment. Popeye is at his very best, as a sailor, adventuring on the open seas. Nobody wrote or drew Popeye like Elzie Segar. Unfortunately, Mr. Segar passed away at the very young age of 43 having created Popeye a mere 9 years earlier. So what we have here is over a year and a half of Popeye's absolute best run ever. This is not the Popeye most people are used to. This is the Popeye that existed prior to being significantly toned down at the behest of William Randolph Hearst in response to the characters growing popularity. This Popeye is a violent, foul mouthed sailor with a serious gambling addiction. Few able bodied males outside of the diminutive Castor Oyl manage to get through the book without receiving one of Popeye's famous haymakers and I have to gi... Read more

Be sure to eat not only spinach but lots of carrots before tackling this one. Even so, you'll likely need a magnifying glass to read these strips. Who's bright idea was it to cram six strips onto a 10.5 x 14-inch page? It made for some serious squinting when I checked this out at my local comic book store. And at 10.5 x 14-plus inches, this book hardly makes for cozy reading material. Bad book design and layout have made what could have been more accessible material a real chore. I like the dimensions of Tony Millionaires' Maakies books: one strip per page, and look ma! no squinting!