Publisher: McFarland & Company
Release Date: December 2015
Price: $39.95
Author: James Eric Black
Format: 268 pgs., B&W Illustrations, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7864-7987-0
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This book is basically a dissertation re-written for a mass audience. As such, much of it consists of academic theories and interpretations of the writings of Walt Kelly, within the Pogo comic strip. This makes some of the passages very dry reading, but also very thought-provoking. While readers may disagree with the author on various specific points, the overall project is worth reading, if you were ever a Pogo fan.
The most informative part of the book deals with identifying the various political and social figures being parodied in the 1950s. A few of them are less than obvious to later readers of the strip, and the analysis of this is very helpful in understanding Kelly’s takes on politics. The "inside joke" strips, like the one in which he "announces" the winner of the 1952 presidential election in a strip written several weeks earlier, provide insight not only into his humor, but into the realities of creating daily comic strips, where the creator has to have a buffer of strips in advance to keep editors happy.
The sections on Kelly’s private life may be a little disillusioning, as it was not quite as spotless as his public image, but there is also material here about the reasons why he was able to reclaim the copyright on the strip, and how that worked both his benefit and for the comfort of the newspaper syndicate.
The book, like other volumes from McFarland, is a bit pricey, but for serious fans of Pogo, it will be worth the purchase price.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
