Out Sept. 19.
In November of 2011, Fantagraphics released the first volume of its
much-anticipated, long-promised series reprinting in its entirety the
syndicated run of Walt Kelly’s classic newspaper strip, Pogo. Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Wonder immediately became the company’s best-selling book of the last five years. Exactly one year later, the second volume, Pogo: Bona Fide Balderdash,
will be released, featuring all the strips from 1951 and 1952. With
sources found for the more elusive strips (in the past, our scheduling
downfall), we’re confident that these collections will become an annual
affair. Even though Pogo had been in syndication for less than
two years as this volume begins, Kelly’s long professional experience
(including seven years creating Pogo stories for comic books)
had him at the peak of his powers, and this book features page after
page of gorgeously drawn, hilarious vaudevillian dialogue and action
among the swamp denizens, as well as Kelly’s increasingly sharp-tongued
political satire — especially on display during the 1952 election
season. Kelly was famous for his prolific creation of recurring
characters, and by the end of this second volume, the count will already
have topped over one hundred. New arrivals include Tammanany the Tiger,
the voluble P.T. Bridgeport, the sinister Sarcophagus MacAbre (with his
funereal speech balloons), Uncle Antler the bull moose... and
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred, the adorable trio of bats. The two
years of daily strips in this volume have been collected before but in
now long-out-of print books; and even there they were not as
meticulously restored and reproduced as in this new series. Bona Fide Balderdash also
reprints, literally for the first time ever in full color, the two full
years of Sunday pages, also carefully restored and color-corrected,
shot from the finest copies available. This second volume is once again
edited and designed by the cartoonist’s daughter, Carolyn Kelly, who is
also handling much of the restoration work. It includes a new
introduction by the legendary author, recording artist, and satirist
Stan Freberg, who was not only a friend of Kelly’s but the voice of
Albert the Alligator in the I Go Pogo: Pogo for President
movie. There will also be more extensive annotations by comic strip
historian and expert R.C. Harvey, as well as additional historical
information from writer Mark Evanier.
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