Popeye returns, thanks to Youngstown artist

The Valley's Talkin' about comic books

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The Valley's Talkin' with Doc and Bert, August 8, 2009. The Vindicator Columnist Bertram de Souza talks to Youngstown-based pop artist, painter and comic character creator. The Vindicator Managing Editor Mark Sweetwood fills in for Doc Binning in this look at comic books.

Chris Yambar was the driving force behind the first new Popeye comic book in 30 years.

The Vindicator

Popeye has been fighting to the finish and eating his spinach in newspapers, on television, on the silver screen, in comic books and on just about anything you can think of licensing since he first appeared in Elzie Segar’s “Thimble Theater” comic strip in 1929.

Although the rough-and-tumble sailor originally appeared as a secondary character, he emerged as the comic strip’s favorite after several years. Popeye, Olive Oyl, Wimpy and Swee’ Pea have all long since become international symbols of two-fisted fun.

It was in Chester, Ill., that Segar grew up and created the strip, which was based on some of the city’s more colorful citizens. The town will roll out the spinach-green carpet Friday through Sept. 13 for the 30th annual Popeye Picnic celebration.

In addition to parades, games, historic lectures, costume contests, radio plays and the unveiling of the latest life-size granite character statue, the city will offer visitors an all-new premium comic book entitled “Popeye Picnic.” It’s the first such comic featuring Popeye and his pals in more than 30 years.

“Popeye Picnic” was the brainchild of Youngstown pop artist/cartoonist Chris Yambar and his company, Premium Pop, a division of CLI 2.0 (formerly known as Comic Library International). The comic features 32 pages of original material found nowhere else. Yambar, who wrote the issue, was joined by fellow artists George Broderick Jr. and Ken Wheaton. Popeye newspaper strip creator Hy Eisman and comic book artist George Wildman contributed pin-ups for the project.

The book not only allows the Popeye cast to attend the actual picnic celebration in Chester, it allows Popeye to travel back in history to meet his creator, the citizens who inspired Olive and Wimpy, and Rocky Feigle, the man who was the inspiration for Popeye himself.

“Popeye is a true American icon,” said Yambar, whose studio in downtown Youngstown. “Joining forces with the people of Chester to create a premium comic honoring the character and his birthplace was a natural. Coming up with a story line that allowed Popeye to celebrate his 80th birthday face-to-face with himself …that was supernatural!”

Yambar said that a Popeye Birthday Party will be in early November at the AWWWMazing Place in Southern Park Mall, with a costume contest.

Finding the right talent to birth the “Popeye Picnic” project was no problem for the award-winning Yambar, who is recognized for his work on mainline titles such as Bart Simpson Comics, Radioactive Man, Mister Magoo and his own creation, Mr. Beat. He enlisted the help of Pittsburgh’s George Broderick Jr., (“Lost In Space,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Speed Racer,” “Munsters”) and Rochester, N.Y.’s Ken Wheaton (“Futurama,” “Kolchak,” “Buckaroo Banzai”), who are lifelong Popeye fans.

“George and Ken would have killed me if I had asked anyone else to draw this comic,” Yambar said. “Working on Popeye was their dream project. Thanks to the city of Chester, Illinois, and the kind people over at King Features Syndicate, that dream became a reality. It was an honor for all of us at Premium Pop to work on such a time-honored property as Popeye. What a benchmark way to begin our new premium comics division.”

On Friday, Eisman and Wildman will join Yambar, Broderick Jr., and Wheaton for a comic signing from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Chester Library. The event will be repeated from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

“There are not enough words in the English language to describe how thrilled we are with the new Popeye comic premium produced by Chris Yambar, George Broderick Jr., and Ken Wheaton,” exclaimed Michael McClure, Chester’s Popeye Picnic Chairman from 2004 to 2008. “After an over-30-year hiatus, this is the first authentic and original use of the traditional Popeye character in printed comic form.”

For more information about the Popeye Picnic celebration, go to popeyepicnic.com.