[PLEASE NOTE: What I wrote here is long. SO PLEASE FEEL FREE JUST TO SKIP ALL THIS TEXT AND JUST READ THE COMIC. The COMMENTARY and HISTORY LESSON is supplemental for those that want to dig deeper and also see how this impacts this comic strip. I'm, just rambling. Think of this as something similar to DVD Commentary]
To the average modern Popeye fan, they know the main cast of supporting characters such as Olive, Wimpy, Swee'Pea, Poopdeck Pappy and (though this is still confusing for many) Popeye's foe Bluto and/or is it Brutus? (I won't get into that latter subject at this particular moment in time.)
Many new readers may be even less familiar with Alice the Goon, Sea Hag, Eugene the Jeep, etc. But if you're here, you probably know them.
However, unless you are perhaps a diehard dedicated Popeye fan yourself steeped in understanding the complex history of the character, you probably never heard of Sir Pomeroy.
Don't worry about that if you've never heard of him. I don't expect many have. He is kind of a deep cut obscure character to this modern audience, but he was actually a regularly featured comic character in Popeye daily comics back in the 1950's.
You see, there was this time back in the mid-to-late 1950's for Popeye in the newspapers (NOT the cartoons or on the Sunday newspaper strip) that this support character took center stage as a regular "cast member" right next to Popeye himself in his daily comics strip for just over four years there. If I'm doing the math correctly. They were a duo.
This British expeditionary explorer is/was named Sir Pomeroy Vauxhall. Popeye affectionately nicknamed him "Pommy" right from the start when he met him after being referred by the local bartender to seek out the knowledgeable explorer so that he could help Popeye on his quest to track this bigfooted creature.
After their first adventure together where he helped out on the "Case of the Abdominal Snowman" (yes, 'abdominal') who (spoiler alert) turned out to be a giant alien from "South Mars" they tracked down who breathed "the fizzy bubbles of sarsaparilla soda-pop" through a CPAP looking device and spoke backwards, Sir Pomeroy unexpectedly stuck around and hung out with Popeye in the daily comics for almost five years!!!
Um. Yeah. Talk about overstaying your welcome. There are far more knowledgeable Popeye historians than myself, but when Stein came in, he brought in his own ideas and ditched Olive, Wimpy, and spinach amongst other things where he wanted to spotlight and shoehorn in his own creation. I still enjoy them, but they are eclectic. Kind of like I can only eat certain foods maybe once or twice a year. I enjoy them, but not in my dietary rotation all the time.
However, Ralph Stein did give us Bluto's brother Burlo. And he also gave Poopdeck Pappy a gold-digging, shotgun-totting, high-heel shoe wearing young girlfriend named Lulu in his last storyline centered around an abducted horse named Nonny the Equine Genius. Which I loved. So Kudos.
Don't get me wrong, my fellow diehard fans. I enjoyed some of these comics and I am an absolute fan of artist Bela Zaboly, but I found it strange to read these old comic strips to see that "Pommy" became Popeye's right hand man. This series went in a different direction and that was for sure with writer Ralph Stein.
If you ever watched reruns of the 1960's television series HOGAN'S HEROES, BEWITCHED, or early episodes of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, the Popeye character "Pommy" quite reminded me of British Welsh actor Bernard Fox who was a reoccurring guest star on all of those shows as either P.O.W. British Air Force misfit Col. Crittendon, witch debunker Dr. Bombay, or the always proper pleasing visiting butler manservant Malcolm Merriweather who rode into town on his bicycle. Respectfully. Always playing this certain British stiff upper lip stereotype. Jolly good. Pip pip.
Bernard Fox of course starred in other films such as TITANIC and THE MUMMY and various other guest roles on television. Cartoon fans might remember his voice in two of the Disney RESCUERS films. I digress.
Maybe it is just me that sees it, but when I read these Ralph Stein and Bela Zaboly comics strips from the second half of the 1950's with Sir Pomeroy, I hear Bernard Fox's voice and mannerisms.
But back to Popeye history... after E.C. Segar died in 1938, writer Tom Sims would write the Popeye comics strips until leaving the weekday dailies in 1954. However, Sims stayed on with the Sunday comic strip until 1958 and those were more traditional to the Popeye we know with Olive, Wimpy, etc.. Sims worked with brilliant Popeye artist Bela Zaboly. When Sim left the dailies, writer Ralph Stein took over and continued with artist Zaboly until Popeye comic book artist Bud Sagendorf took over both writing and art chores for the daily and Sunday strips with his first daily comic strip published on August 10, 1959. Remember all that because there is a pop quiz.
The daily strip is the long adventure. The Sunday strip was more of a one-and-done gag strip. For the most part.
The world had entered the space age. This was post-World War Two and pre-JFK 60's era. We're in the Eisenhower Presidential era. 1950's Sci-Fi was entering the culture more. As I mentioned, in the daily newspaper comics, believe it or not, Stein wrote Olive Oyl out of the picture for almost five years. She and Swee'Pea made some rare appearances here and there, but for the most part, Stein decided to partner up Popeye with his creation Sir Pomeroy. As I mentioned in today's comic strip, the two characters would bumble into misadventures around the globe (and outerspace!).
I'm not trying to make this a critique of Stein's work and creation Sir Pomeroy that he had added to the Popeye mythos. There is harsh criticism out there indeed. Especially with removing Olive and Wimpy to shoehorn this character in. But there are some storylines in this era that are fun to read and I enjoy. There are some others that are not. Enough said.
After Sagendorf took over in 1958/59, he brought back Olive Oyl and put Swee'Pea back in his onesie. He ditched Sir Pomeroy. Stein and Zaboly were able to finish their storyline sending him off into the sunset. Years later, some other Popeye cartoonists would include him from time to time for guest appearances. One of those brushed the dust off "Pommy" and used him once again for a stint was cartoonist Bobby London who brought him back for guest appearances in the late 1980's daily comic strips of that era. Hard to believe even that was nearly 40 years ago!
For me with SEA SHANTY FUNNIES and in my mind with the stories from my own "alternate retro" timeline, my continuity includes ONLY SOME OF THESE (BUT NOT ALL) of the globetrotting adventures that Popeye did with "Pommy" back in the day. Some may have not happened. Some may have played out differently. It really doesn't matter. It is vague and unknown for even for me.
I will just "cherrypick" or perhaps reference certain things of what I felt were the better elements or tales that I liked or can make work from this era of newspaper comic strip of Stein and Zaboly into my own backstories if that ever becomes necessary.
For the hardcore diehard Popeye fans who are over-analyzers like myself, just don't overthink it with what I'm doing with my own comic strip. Please. I just want to acknowledge here the character and that he does exists in my continuity, too. I don't necessarily try to make everything fit, I just pack in what I can make fit to give nods and respect to all of Popeye's past. And, like I'm doing with the dreaded Nephews, I will sometimes add my own spin or retcons.
I will even say that I liked Sir "Pommy" -- this annoying character somewhat more than perhaps others did -- but I think that is because I graft on and transfer my memories and love of the aforementioned comedian actor Bernard Fox's essence and personality onto "Pommy"'s character in my own mind. If I was to write Pommy myself down the road for SEA SHANTY FUNNIES, I would write the character with Bernard Fox's voice and mannerisms in my head and do my own spin while trying to retain respect the work before.
From the beginning, E.C. Segar set up his comic strip as "theater". THIMBLE THEATRE that is. It included a cast of characters that come and go. Even the leads like Ham Gravy exited so that Popeye could take center stage. One of the things about Popeye is that the cast of characters... whether the major players.... the minor support characters... and even what should be insignificant background characters somehow bring this imaginary world together in all of their oddballness.
Wait. Is "oddballness" a word?
Well, Sir Pomeroy is an oddball character for sure and part of the history. I do have two upcoming things in mind to use him, but he has to wait in the cue with others in line before I can get to him at the moment. Again, I'm rambling in my usual hyperlinked thoughts.
I use these "KEY MOMENTS" to offer my own sort of "DVD-like Commentary" and why I choose to showcase a part of Popeye's history that I feel is important not only for my own comic strip's back story, but to perhaps give a history lesson or two that new readers unfamiliar with Popeye can learn something new
