Great Supporting Players #4: Churchy La Femme and Howland Owl

 

 

 

Walt Kelly's Pogo may have the biggest ensemble cast of any comic strip; it has a cast of thousands. (well, maybe not literally...a cast of hundreds, more likely) A relatively minor character could take center stage for a week or two: P. T. Bridgeport would come to the swamp, visit each of the characters in turn, and be the focus until he left. "Ol' Mouse" and Snavely the Snake, or the Three Bats (B. Witched, B. Othered, and B. Mildred) could hijack the strip from the main cast at any moment. Kelly was so good at creating these characters and writing funny dialogue, that many of them are fan favorites.

Albert and Pogo were always at the heart of the strip. But the "core" cast (Porkypine, Beauregard, Churchy and Howland, Albert and Pogo), feel like sort of a dysfunctional family unit. To me, anyway. Everyone will have their own favorites, but I am particularly fond of Churchy and Howland. With their goofy schemes and toothless battles, they don't need Albert around to be funny. And as far as owls and turtles go, you won't find too many designed as well as these two.

Here are a couple of stories from the last year of the Pogo Possum comic book.

"The Semi-Mental Gentlemints" from Pogo Possum #15 (Jan-March 1954):

"Greetings From Soup to Nuts" from Pogo Possum #16 (April-June 1954):

6 comments:


Willem Wynand said...

These are fantastic, thank you for sharing matey =)

April 26, 2009 7:04 AM


Doug said...

Thanks for stopping by, Willem!

April 27, 2009 12:03 PM


Anonymous said...

wow!! I love Pogo Thanks. just found your blog today. i will be back to see more charlie

April 29, 2009 7:46 PM


Silvio Spotti said...

Where can we find art like this days

April 29, 2009 9:02 PM


Linda said...

Thank you for this website. I have my father's old Howland Owl action figure that stands about 4 inches tall, and I had no idea who he was. How interesting.

September 11, 2009 8:28 AM


Anonymous said...

Thank you for this website. I just found a Howland Owl action figure that was my father's when he was growing up. It stands about 4 inches tall. Thanks for the enlightenment, and how interesting.

September 11, 2009 8:30 AM

Great Supporting Players #3: Huey, Dewey, and Louie

Carl Barks may not have created Donald Duck's three ever-present nephews, but he sure got the most out of them. Depending on the story, Huey Dewey and Louie functioned as everything from antagonists to Greek chorus. With the creation of the Junior Woodchucks and their all-knowing guidebook, Barks was able to condense a ton of exposition into a very few panels of story (and had a handy source of deux ex machina if he needed it).

My favorites, though, are the stories where the boys match wits with Donald. The power struggles of adult vs. child are familiar territory for everyone; maybe that's why these stories are still so much fun to read.

Here is "Truant Officer Donald" from Walt Disney's Comics & Stories #100 (January 1949); art & story by Carl Barks (the front and back covers are by Walt Kelly):

 

 

Great Supporting Players #2: Gran'pa Feeb

I was going to write a bit about Feeb myself, but there is a very good character piece and story scans from his first appearance (in Tubby and His Clubhouse Pals #1, 1956) over at Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine. It's much better than what I might have written, so go check it out. You will find the articles here and here.

Here's "Chaperon Feeb" from Tubby #23 (July-August, 1957):

Great Supporting Players #1: Little Ambrose

Bob Bolling created a lot of characters in Little Archie that had no teenage counterparts in the regular Archie titles: Evelyn Evernever, Fangs Fogarty, Bubbles McBounce, Ludwig La Stanza. The best of these was poor shrimpy Little Ambrose, Little Archie's "picked-on pal". Ambrose was the outcast, always looking to be accepted by the "good ol' gang", even as they avoided and shunned him. When they did include him, it was usually in order to exploit him in some way. But Ambrose never minded; he just wanted to be part of the gang. Somehow he brought out the alpha dog in all of the boys, the worst offender being Little Archie himself.

Here is a story from Little Archie #10 (Spring 1959):

Little Ambrose got his own comic book as well. According to the inside cover, it was in response to letters they had received, implying that the character was popular. However, poor Ambrose never got a second issue. Here is a story from that one shot (September 1959):