Earth Day greetings from Walt Kelly and Pogo Possum

Here's a rather famous Earth Day cartoon by the late Walt Kelly, creator of the long-gone but beloved comic strip Pogo. Kelly is believed to have first used the line "we have met the enemy and he is us" on the first Earth Day, in 1970. He revived it in a two-panel cartoon in 1971, and again in 1972, as the title of a collection of Pogo strips.

Kelly's message paraphrases the report that Oliver Hazard Perry sent to Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison on Sept. 10, 1813, after Perry's fleet defeated a British fleet on Lake Erie during the War of 1812: "Dear Gen'l: We have met the enemy, and they are ours, two ships, two brigs, one  schooner and one sloop. Yours with great respect and esteem. H. Perry."

 

The New Yorker covers: September 11, 2000

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Benoît van Innis
"Obedience School"

And now, a few words from . . . Theodore Dreiser

Words are but the value shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Venetian Canal, Palazzo Corner," ca. 1880, John Singer Sargent

Movie Posters, 1976: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 22

American cartoonists and writers may not have invented the comic strip, but some argue that the comics, as we know them today, are an American creation. Clearly, the United States has played an outsize role in the development of this underappreciated art form.

4.22.1970: Pogo Possum, the title character in Walt Kelly’s Pogo, says “We have met the enemy and he is us” in a poster Kelly drew to help promote the first annual Earth Day. 

 

4.22.1971: Muckraking newspaper columnist Jack Anderson publishes a column accusing Li’l Abner creator Al Capp of sexual misconduct in 1968 involving several female students at the University of Alabama. Capp had not been charged in 1968, and he denies the allegations when they surface in 1971.
 
4.22.1986: Dick Moores, who worked on Gasoline Alley for nearly three decades, dies. He was 76. Moores began as an assistant to creator Frank King, and later took control of the strip.

4.22.1990: The Buckets debuts, Created by Scott Stantis, the comic focuses on a suburban family, including a pooch named Dogzilla.

4.22.2024: The New York Times reports that Blondie, Dagwood's wife in the Blondie comic strip long dominated by Dagwood, is getting a more prominent role in the comic.

 

Most of the information listed here from one day to the next comes from two online sites -- Wikipedia, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia -- as well as 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, edited by Maurice Horn. Note that my focus is on American newspaper comic strips (and the occasional foreign strip that gained popularity in the United States). Thus, comic books and exclusively online comics are not included here.

The New Yorker covers: April 1, 1991

As with several other holidays, Easter is both religious and secular. The Christian Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. The secular Easter gives a starring role to a mythical bunny that distributes chocolate eggs or other sweets to children. Why the Easter Bunny is a non-laying rabbit rather than a hen is beyond me.

James Stevenson
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Willa Cather

There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Simpkin Goes Out," ca. 1902, Beatrix Potter
illustration for "The Tailor of Gloucester"