After 93 years, Popeye is getting a fresh new look.
As of Sunday, King Features Syndicate will roll out its revamped weekly Sunday "Popeye" comic to dozens of newspapers while also making it available via its Comics Kingdom site, according to the Washington Post. Helming the new project is 46-year-old Texas cartoonist Randy Milholland.
"Popeye" readers first noticed his work in 2019, when in celebration of the character's 90th birthday, King Features Syndicate invited top artists to draw their takes on the spinach-gulping and bottle-armed comic hero. He was asked to offer more strips the following year. Then readers began calling for him to take over the comic strips.
Fast forward to the present day and he is inheriting the "Popeye" strip from Hy Eisman, who wrote and rendered it since 1994, the Post noted.
"I had read Popeye since I was young, and it was always one of my favorite strips," Eisman, 95, told the outlet via email. "It meant a lot to me to be creating Popeye stories myself."
Adds Eisman: "I'm glad the strip is continuing."
What attracted Milholland to the character, originally created by Elzie Crisler "E.C." Segar, is that he takes on large and menacing foes and has long lived by his own moral code. One aspect that Milholland cherishes from Segar's run is that Popeye would say: "I will protect any child I meet. Oh, you're down on your luck? I will be here to help you."
"Coming out of the Depression," Milholland said, "that really was a lot."
Over the years, generations of writers and artists have contributed their creative takes on Popeye. For Milholland, what appeals are his lively style and the visual pop of children's animation.
"We love Randy's bold lines, quirky character designs and bright colors," Tea Fougner, the editorial director of comics at King Features, told the Post.
"He's bringing back characters who haven't been seen in [nearly] a century, like Olive's sister-in-law, Cylinda Oyl," Fougner added. "He's also focused on reminding readers that in addition to the tough guy and defender of underdogs they know and love, Popeye is also sentimental and kind — the type of guy we all want on our side."
Milholland enjoys exploring ways to recreate the faces and shapes of the figures but at the heart of the strip, which Milholland values, is the familial element that flows across the pages of the strip.
"They may bicker and fistfight," he said, "but they still care about each other."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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