Reviews
Walt Kelly's Pogo... is justifiably hailed as one of the great achievements of the postwar comic strip.... This wonderful first volume of a projected 12-volume series contains the strip's first two official years... I salute this launch... [Rating] 9/10, Kelly's drawings are just magnificent, and his sophisticated writing style was far ahead of its time. Its time has come - and Fantagraphics has gone out of its way to ensure the best possible copies of these rare strips were found, restored and preserved perfectly here for all time... A great gift for anyone - especially you., This strip is funny, well-drawn, and features a huge mass of likeable characters doing entertaining things. Put it together with Fantagraphics' excellent presentation, and you have a definite must-buy., It's a hefty volume, and will leave even the most dyspeptic Pogo fan wide-eyed with wonder and gratitude., ...[A]bsolutely beautiful, a big comic book with real heft and majesty.... This isn't a book you read so much as sink into: Kelly's brilliant ear for dialect and voice lulls you along, and then you're lost in his beautiful artwork.... If I had to make one complaint about this Pogo collection, it'd be that it ends too soon., The congenial Pogo Possum and his swampland friends... spring to life in this collection of daily and Sunday comics, filled with Kelly's characteristic wordplay. One hopes this will introduce a new generation to this comic, satiric masterwork., Walt Kelly's seminal, satirical, exquisitely rendered, hugely influential (and, not for nothing, actually funny) comic strip is getting a deluxe treatment by Fantagraphics. Crisply reproduced at a generous size that makes it easier than ever to marvel over Kelly's marvelous linework, this book is everything fans and comics historians were hoping for., (Starred Review) This exceptional first volume of the collected adventures of Pogo Possum should remind readers of the substantial legacy left behind by Kelly.... The volume is beautifully put together, including excellent insights into Kelly and his work ... Kelly was able to blend hilarious humor, exceptional storytelling, keen political satire, and brilliant wordplay into a strip that could be appreciated both by children and adults., [Pogo Vol. 1] is the first book that gives a full sense of what it was like to read Kelly's pioneering strip from the beginning.... And it helps that because of the book format, ...Kelly's 'love of high-flown language' is more legible than it often was in newspapers., The good news: it's here, it's real. The better news: it's incredible. Walt Kelly's lively, robust, and poetic world is faithfully and lovingly produced... Fantagraphics knew this first volume would be scrutinized by hardcore Pogo fans, and they've outdone expectations..., If Walt Kelly had written 'regular' books, he might be recognized today as one of the finestsatirists of the 20th Century. As a wizard of wordplay he might well be mentioned, if not in thesame breath with Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, then in the very next., It's hard to think of another newspaper cartoonist who equalled [Kelly's] talents.... The design is impeccable and the quality of the line art reproduction is superb., Walt Kelly's wit and charm is unmatched in the history of sequential storytelling, and is in evidence here fully developed. I'd get this book for Jimmy Breslin's introduction alone. Go. Read this. You'll charm the pants off of yourself., Timeless and magical, Pogo is a giant of world literature, not simply comics, and this magnificent edition should be the pride of every home's bookshelf., The biggest revelation of reading the first two years of Pogo is how polished and funny the strip was right from the start, and also how nearly every Pogo panel is a delight unto itself. ...[T]here's a classic Pogo moment on just about every page of this book., The book is lovingly made and the strips presented with care and pleasure. But is it any good? Oh yes. It's funny and charming, bursting with witty wordplay and vivid characters you love immediately., ...[An] essential purchase for any collection that values comic-strip reprints is finally available. ...[T]he inventive wordplay, idiosyncratic swamp patter, and goofy slapstick are all in full effect right from the start, as is the broad cast of loony critters... Due to run 12 volumes, this collection completes the holy trifecta, along with Charles Schulz' Peanuts and George Herriman's Krazy Kat, of comic strips whose influence cannot be overstated., Kelly's art isn't just a collection of animation quality lines; it's like the lines embody the ideal of great animation art; just stunning.
