Walt Kelly's Pogo: The Noble Dog

Here is some fine original artwork by Walt Kelly from his imaginative daily comic strip Pogo. At first it seems we're on a political topic, but by the last panel Kelly is surely channeling Nicely-Nicely Johnson.

Walt Kelly, Original Artwork for Pogo, May 7, 1968

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Daily-Pogo-Strip-by-Walt-Kelly-5-7-1968-Beauregard-Churchy-Porkypine-/290963948376?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43becd8358&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  I'm pleased to inform you I have more Walt Kelly posts for you here.

Don't forget the Whirled of Kelly blog here and the Pogo in Pandemonia blog here. I won't.

Tomorrow fall will begin. See my blog posts about autumn here.

0887

Sheldon Cooper's Twitter Milestone

I never thought I'd say this proudly, but....

Sheldon Cooper and I now have something in common! My Twitter account has reached 101 followers, so I can boast that I've achieved the same exalted milestone as the most socially inept character on television's "The Big Bang Theory." One might even be tempted to say, "Ooh, 101! Air's gettin' a bit thin up here!"

One-hundred one Twitter followers! Zero dalmatians.

Of course, the number of one's Twitter followers is not exactly a scientific measure of popularity or indeed of anything in particular. Many Twitter users follow you not out of any keen interest, but rather out of a desire to have you follow them in return. What's the point of all that? To date I have followed 484 others on Twitter, mostly, but not entirely, out of genuine interest. Some of the mutual following that goes on is part of a polite give-and-take. This exchange is a quirky social media convention Sheldon Cooper would surely never be a party to, and that alone makes his tally of 101 Twitter followers considerably more impressive than mine.

"The Big Bang Theory"

Season 5, Episode 12

Sheldon and Amy's Date Night 

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper

Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler

Kaley Cuoco as Penny

July 18, 2014 Update: I now have 200 Twitter followers. I still don't get it.

Note:  My Twitter account was created mainly to promote this blog, although today I use it for other noble purposes as well. You can follow me on Twitter here. In fact, more people choose to follow me on Twitter than on this blog, almost five times as many. Make of that what you will. I myself haven't quite figured it all out.

If you care to, you can also follow me on Instagram here. Instagram is still new to me, but at this time I am not using it consistently for any blog-related activity. Generally, I share my Instagram photos on Twitter anyway. Is this at all confusing?

You can catch up with my few blog posts on the subject of various social media here.

0886

Walt Kelly's Pogo: Baseball and the Presidensity

Original comic strip art from Walt Kelly's Pogo shows the artist to be as adept at wordplay as he is at ink brushing. The strange words and dialect which abound here seemed unnecessarily difficult when I first encountered Pogo as a boy, but over the years I've taken to it with a bit more enthusiasm.

Walt Kelly, Original Artwork for Pogo, August 20, 1964

Note:  This blog has more Walt Kelly posts sure to befuddle you here.

Then there's the Whirled of Kelly blog here and Pogo in Pandemonia here.

Autumn begins the day after tomorrow. There are only a couple of posts about fall in the blog and you can see them here.

0885

China Ascendant

For more than a year and a half after I created this blog, page views emanating from China were rarely seen here. Then about six months ago, China suddenly appeared in my monthly blog statistics and never left. I took note of this publicly in March, and expressed my pride and bewilderment.

Today for the first time China appears in the list of the top ten countries in all-time page views of this blog. Furthermore, for the current month, China has moved up to fourth among nations in blog readership. There is a bit of lag time until the all-time statistics are similarly affected, but China clearly has the potential to move into the top half of this list given enough time.

I still have no clear picture of why this has happened, but I don't think the Chinese government has changed any of its repressive policies or embraced internet freedom. Rather, I believe there must be a newfound technical ability to circumvent the government restrictions that are in place.

Attempted Bloggery All-Time Pageviews by Countries, September 19, 2013

Attempted Bloggery Monthly Pageviews by Countries, September 19, 2013

Note:  More blog posts on China can be found here.

0884

Walt Kelly's Pogo: A Letter from Camp

Camp Siberia's students aren't writing letters home regularly, but Barnstable Bear has a plan to act as general corresponding secretary for the entire camp. Here is an example of original Sunday comic strip art for Walt Kelly's Pogo consisting of brushed ink over blue pencil.

Walt Kelly, Original Sunday Artwork for Pogo, July 30, 1961

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pogo-Sunday-Original-by-Walt-Kelly-Camp-Siberia-7-30-1961-/111139143055?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e068bd8f&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  This blog now is now teeming with original Pogo comic strip art. See more of it here. 

Also try the Whirled of Kelly blog here. There's even Pogo in Pandemonia here.

0083

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #395

Here is my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #395 for September 16, 2013. The cartoon is by Christpher Weyant but the caption is all mine.

"Did you ever wonder, Bradley, why your job wasn't outsourced?"

I was unable to do the underlining when I submitted my entry. Hmmm.... So it goes. Here are some other unused caption ideas:

"Now your promotion is practically guaranteed."

"It won't serve as a deterrent without real gunpowder."

"You said you wanted to travel."

"By the way, Thompson, you're fired."
"What we save on airfare goes directly into your

health insurance premiums."

September 23, 2013 Update:  The Finalists

October 7, 2013 Update:  Winning Caption

October 8, 2013 Update:  Cartoonist Christopher Weyant reveals the caption he originally conceived for this drawing.

"This is the part of the job I hate."

Note:  What do you say if you're half man, half escargot? Don't forget to take a look at my previous entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest here.

I'm currently a finalist in Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest! No, really. Read all about it here.

This blog features an earlier caption contest with Christopher Weyant here. Also, he signed my copy of The Best of the Rejection Collection here, although today I really have no independent recollection of this. I think I was sleepwalking. I'm sure he doesn't remember me either.

Mr. Weyant's website is here.

Christopher Weyant's New Yorker work can be enjoyed in The Cartoon Bank here.

Don't miss Bob Mankoff's essential blog post "A Cartoonist Responds to Boston" here.

There's more!  Christopher Weyant is mentioned on Ink Spill in these posts.

Did I leave anything out?

0882

Walt Kelly's Pogo: Happy Buddha

Walt Kelly's Pogo visits Pandemonia and it's quite a place. Somehow L.B.J. is there too! This example of original daily Pogo comic strip art has fetched a premium on eBay. The dinosaurs in Pandemonia rock!

Walt Kelly, Original Artwork from Pogo, January 30, 1967

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Daily-Strip-by-Walt-Kelly-1-30-1967-Pogo-in-Pandemonia-/111139106953?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e0683089&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  This blog is now chock full of Walt Kelly posts which you can enjoy here.

So is the Whirled of Kelly blog here. Then there's the Pogo in Pandemonia blog here which is all about this crazy extended Pandemonia sequence.

0881

Walt Kelly's Pogo: The National Debt

This original artwork by Walt Kelly for his Pogo comic strip touches on the U.S. national debt in 1959. Kelly quotes the very specific monetary cost of $14,992.59, presumably the cowbird couple's share of the national debt. Statistics I have been able to find show the per capita share of the national debt to be $1,585 around that time, so I don't quite see how the numbers reconcile.

Walt Kelly, Original Artwork for Pogo, March 18, 1959

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Daily-Strip-by-Walt-Kelly-3-18-1959-Pogo-Cowbirds-/111139090240?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e067ef40&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2009/04/us-economy-at-your-fingertips.html#.UjY1qWR4b6k

Note:  This blog now has many posts of original Pogo comic strip art. Enjoy them here. 

I also recommend the Whirled of Kelly blog here. You might also enjoy Pogo in Pandemonia here.

0880

Walt Kelly's Pogo: Lost

Here's some more original Pogo Sunday comic strip art by the great Walt Kelly. Albert Alligator is "Lost, lost, lost." Will he find his way back?

Walt Kelly, Original Sunday Artwork for Pogo, August 11, 1963

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WALT-KELLY-POGO-SUNDAY-STRIP-ORIGINAL-ART-8-11-63-CIVILIZATION/310682429567?_trksid=p2047675.m1986&_trkparms=aid%3D555003%26algo%3DPW.CAT%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D7%26meid%3D1132841512616041112%26pid%3D100013%26prg%3D1004%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D141004355924%26

Note:  Check out more Walt Kelly posts here.

If that's not enough, there's the Whirled of Kelly blog here. Also you might try the Pogo in Pandemonia blog over here. It hasn't been updated in a year, but so what?

There's a lot of football on TV. Celebrate the new football season with my football posts here.

0879