The Further Adventures.....

A quick trivia question:  What do you think is the first line that Popeye ever spoke in the comic strips?

The answer:  "D'ya think I'm a cowboy?"

Popeye the Sailor was supposed to be a temporary character in EC Segar's THIMBLE THEATRE back in 1929.  Instead, he became so universally popular that he soon took over the comic strip, and many of the main characters slowly drifted away into obscurity.

Yes, many of you remember Olive Oyl and Swee'Pea, and the lovable J. Wellington Wimpy.  But poor Ham Gravy (Olive's original fiance), and Olive's family: her brother Castor, her Mother Nana and her Father Cole, disappeared forever.

The incredibly talented EC Segar died in 1938; and even though many others have taken up the mantle of Popeye writer/artist, the humor is changed forever.  But Segar is not forgotten.......

In his hometown of Chester, Illinois, located on the bluffs above the Mississippi River in the state of Illinois, have added to the legacy by producing a statue of a Popeye Character every year since the middle 1990's.  Popeye, of course, was the first.....but they now have Olive and Swee'Pea, Bluto, Cole Oyl, Castor Oyl and his Whiffle Hen, and the Sea Hag, and Eugene the Jeep......they are located at the various places around town, and in my brief sojourn there, I was not the only one travelling from one to the other to get a picture.

They will continue to do so until sometime around 2020.

Someday, I'm going to attend the Popeye Picnic.  I hear they have a costume contest.

Oh, and by the way, if you DO go there, make sure to stop in to SPINACH CAN COLLECTIBLES.  They have a great little museum of Popeye trinkets, and a gift shop for swag.  And they are, quite possibly, the friendliest people I've ever met in a tourist trap.