Dojo Classics - The Labors Of Popeye!

In honor of Labor Day, here is a gallery of vintage King Features comics starring the one and only Popeye the Sailor Man. Actually these comics were produced by the boys at Charlton Comics under the guidance of George Wildman. They are part of a pretty big program by King Features for schools to give kids of various ages some insights into available careers of the Bronze Age.


Wildman enlisted the talents of veterans in the Charlton bullpen to get these comics done. Joe Gill wrote all of them. Wildman himself drew all the covers as well as the interiors for three issues (#1,2 & 15). Tony Tallarico (4 & 10), Jeff Keate (5 & 13), Frank Roberge (6 & 12), Paul Fung Jr. (7 & 14), Tony DiPreta (8 & 11), and Ray Dirgo (3 & 9) all did two issues each.

I've long lusted after these Popeye treasures for quite some time, and when I was finally able to add them to my collection, I was able to find more than just the comics. In addition to the comics themselves a teacher got hold of a manual, posters, and other materials such as a career bingo game. I don't have a complete kit, since there were also apparently filmstrips too, but I have a complete bingo game and the teacher's manual with all the assignments. There's a nifty wall poster too with all the Popeye covers too. That's too big for me to scan alas.

It's not feasible to scan in all of the sundry materials, since all the bingo cards are different and there are lessons for each of the fifteen Popeye comics. But I have scanned in some representative samples, specifically those having to do with commercial artwork and other media jobs. My favorite pieces are the little Popeye faces used to cover the bingo squares.

(Only Bingo Card featuring Popeye)

(Bingo Rules)

(Classroom Assignment)

There's a neat article on this effort in Charlton Spotlight #6 which shows some photos of the Charlton plant in operation as part of this program. George Wildman is prominently featured. I've always loved his take on Popeye, it's full of energy and verve. His Popeye books for Charlton are some of the gemsfrom the little Derby company in the Bronze Age. And these King/Charlton Career books are evidence of that.

(George Wildman)

Update: The is the beginning of a new series here at the Dojo where I will fish up some vintage post (this one comes from Labor Day 2011 for instance) and dust it off and maybe add some freshness. For those who've seen it before, here it is with a little more visual oomph and since its original publication, the dandy artist and former editor of Charlton Comics, George Wildman has passed away. I dedicate this post Mr. Wildman, my second favorite Charlton editor (after Dick Giordano) and one of the best Popeye artists ever.

Look for more "Dojo Classics" from time to time in the future.

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The King's Spanish!

The pair of delightful images above are two sides to the same comic, one in English and the other in Spanish. The comic prints the same material twice, like the covers once in English and again in Spanish making immediate comparison possible. It's a good way to absorb a little language you're not familiar with.

The comic used was originally published not by King Comics, but by Charlton when they had the license to the stable of characters. In fact a total of four Charlton comics get this bi-lingual King treatment. The Blondie comic was the third in that run.

The first was this Beetle Bailey comic. See a small scan of its Spanish reverse cover below.

And here is the Charlton original.

Popeye the Sailor was the second comic in the four-issue run.

I couldn't locate a really good scan of the Spanish-language reverse cover, but here is a small snapshot of all four of the comics.

And here is the Charlton original.

The fourth and final installment in this run was Hi and Lois.

A fun Spanish version on the reverse.

And the equally entertaining Charlton original.

King Comics did several of these educational comics during this period, often making use of the talents at Derby, Connecticut. Here is a look at a run of Popeye comics which I cherish produced by George Wildman and his team for school use. And here is look at another education-influenced run by King Comics.

I'd like to get all four of these dual language comics. I have a couple, but not all. They are gems.

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Number One Super Guy!

Charlton was the go-to comic book publisher for authentic martial arts action. Marvel showed up with Shang-Chi and Iron Fist and DC might've had Karate Kid for many years, but Charlton gave us Judomaster, Tiger, Thunderbolt, Yang, and Sun Yang. That's a pretty impressive list, but it's not a complete list.

There was also Hong Kong Phooey.



Hong Kong Phooey was one of the Hanna-Barbera licensed comics which Charlton produced in the 70's. The company had given us droves of Flintstone comics and other H-B stuff, but toward the end of the company's run with the animation giant, they offered up Hong Kong Phooey. Much of the artwork on the early issues was handled by Paul Fung Jr.


The series ran concurrently with Yang and House of Yang and even lasted a few months beyond the cancellation of those books. That makes Hong Kong Phooey, Charlton's last martial arts hero.



Here is a link with more details on Hong Kong Phooey. Here is a link to some full-fledged Hong Kong Phooey Charlton comics. And below is a cover gallery of Charlton's comic run.









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