We Go Pogo: Walt Kelly, Politics, and American Satire

248 Pages·2012·7.18 MB·English

by  Kerry D. Soper

we go pogo
Great Comics Artists Series
M. Thomas Inge, General Editor
We Go
Pogo
Walt Kelly, Politics, and American Satire
Kerry D. Soper
University Press of Mississippi Jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of American University Presses.
Copyright © 2012 by University Press of Mississippi
Unpublished interviews and other materials from the Walt Kelly archive at Ohio State University,
copyright © Okefenokee Glee & Perloo, Inc. Used by permission.
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2012
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Soper, Kerry.
We go Pogo : Walt Kelly, politics, and American satire / Kerry D. Soper.
p. cm. — (Great comics artists series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61703-283-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61703-284-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN
978-1-61703-285-1 (ebook) 1. Kelly, Walt. 2. Pogo (Comic strip) 3. Cartoonists—United States. 4.
Satire in literature. I. Kelly, Walt. II. Title. III. Title: Walt Kelly, politics, and American satire.
PN6727.K4Z87 2012
741.5’6973—dc23 2011041673
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
to lisa
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contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 3
Chapter One
Walt Kelly’s Biography and a General History of Pogo 19
Chapter Two
Comedy and Satire in Pogo 50
Chapter Three
Walt Kelly, Pragmatic Auteur 99
Chapter Four
Representations of Race, and Borrowings from African American
Folk Forms in Kelly’s Work 137
Chapter Five
The Aesthetics of Pogo 168
Chapter Six
Walt Kelly, Mid-Century Poplorist 195
Notes 219
Works Cited 221
Index 229
vii
acknowledgments
There are a number of people to thank for their help in creating this book: Allen
Tullos for his mentoring as I first wrestled with the complex issues of race and
Southern identities in Walt Kelly’s work; George Handley, Stan Benfell, Matt An-
cell, Kristin Matthews, and Phil Snyder for reading drafts and offering essential
advice; Carolyn Hone for bailing me out on numerous occasions; John Rosen-
berg, Greg Clark, Scott Sprenger, Ron Woods, Jared Christensen, Mike Call Sr.,
and other people at Brigham Young University for providing generous resources
and support (this includes the people in the College of General Education whose
Alcuin Fellowship helped pay for critical research trips); Taylor Ball-Brown, Ben
Tingey, Kirsten Steiger, Shannon Dame, Rachel Gilman, and Jaime Bingham for
their stellar work as research assistants; Lucy Caswell and Jenny Robb for their
patient aid when I spent time at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum;
Pete Kelly (the epitome of generosity), Carolyn Kelly, Bill Crouch Jr., and Steve
Thompson for providing useful leads, corrections, and critical help in shepherd-
ing this work into print (Steve Thompson deserves a special thanks, in fact, for
working so tirelessly, for so many years, in doing foundational research into
Walt Kelly’s life and work—I look forward to reading his definitive biography of
Kelly someday); Walter Biggins, Seetha Srinivasan, John Lent, Jeet Heer, Judith
Yaross Lee, Thomas Inge, and all the scholars in the Comics Section of the Popu-
lar Culture Association for their interest and faith in my work; Lanny, Shirley,
and my parents for their generous support; Haley, Devin, Taylor, Emmy, Stan,
Cammy, Holly, and David for taking an interest in what I do even when it isn’t
very interesting; and Walt Kelly, of course, for creating the best comic strip to
ever appear on the funnies page.
viii
we go pogo