Clover Press and Yoe! Books have teamed up to create Popeye Variations: Not Yer Pappy’s Comics an’ Art Book, a 10″ x 10″ hardcover book featuring over 100 illustrations from 75 underground and mainstream artists and cartoonists with their own takes on the spinach-munching, bully-punching Popeye the Sailor Man. The project includes pin-ups from contributors such as Adventure Time storyboard artist Derek Ballard; The New Yorker’s Roz Chast; The Book of Life director and acclaimed painter Jorge Guiterrez; legendary comic artist Kelley Jones and Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell; as well as comic strips by cartoonist Jeffrey Brown (Darth Vader and Son); Cat Farris (The Ghoul Next Door); Eisner Award-winning artist Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook); Eisner Award-winning artist Erica Henderson (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl); National Book Award finalist Shin Ying Khor (The Legend of Auntie Po); Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Liniers; Roger Langridge (The Muppets); The Humans’ creator Tom Neely, R. Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics); writer Jeff Parker (Blighter); Sarah Winifred Searle (The Greatest Thing); legendary writer Scott Shaw; Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai and many more. With over 100 pages of Popeye art and comic strips, including new art, new comic strips and art by Bud Sagendorf from the original 1940s & 1950s Popeye comic books, this is a must-have for any fan and collector of the pop icon Sailor man.The campaign allows fans to secure early copies of Popeye Variations, plus exclusive collectibles featuring art from the book, via Kickstarter. Popeye Variations campaign is now live on Kickstarter.
Popeye, the iconic, spinach-eating sailorman, is owned by King Features, a unit of Hearst and home to some of the world’s most popular entertainment characters. In Popeye’s early days, E.C. Segar often shared artwork drawn by fans at the end of the Thimble Theater comic strip. He called this “Popeye’s Cartoon Club,” and it gave ordinary readers a chance to share the page with Popeye. In 2019, in honor of Popeye’s 90th birthday, King Features brought Popeye’s Cartoon Club back with a special twist, inviting cartoonists from around the world to contribute their own comic strip featuring Popeye and his friends, which was digitally published on ComicsKingdom.com. Contributors included Kate Ashwin; Samir Barrett; Isabella Bannerman; Sandra Bell-Lundy; Olive Rae Brinker; Box Brown; Lar DeSouza; Jim Engel; Ryan Estrada; Andrew Farago; Jay P. Fosgitt; Shaenon K. Garrity; Maddi Gonzalez; Alex Hallett; John Hambrock; Micheline Hess; Bill Holbrook; Susan Camilleri Konar; John Kovaleski; Carol Lay; Bones Leopard; Steve Lieber; Kel McDonald; Randy Milholland; Lonnie Milsap; Yesenia Moises; Shan Murphy; Maritsa Patrinos; Woodrow Phoenix; Rina Piccolo; Justin Pierce; Caro Ramsay; David Reddick; Jules Rivera; John Rose and Sarah Rose; Magnolia Porter Siddell; Jim Siergey; Bob Spang; Vannotes; Marloes De Vries; Jean Wei; Bianca Xunise; Reimena Yee; Savannah Zambrano and more. Now, Popeye Variations makes the work of these artists available for the first time in print!
In 2012, IDW Publishing and Yoe! Books teamed up to re-present the classic Popeye comic book series that debuted in 1948 by Bud Sagendorf, the long-time assistant to creator E.C. Segar. Many of the variant covers of IDW’s comic book run are featured in this Popeye Variations art book, and several of the original variant cover comic books will be offered as special tiers on this campaign.
“We’re excited to publish this amazing collection of Popeye art, some seen in limited circles, but all deserving to be shared with Popeye fans around the world,” said publisher Hank Kanalz. “Craig Yoe and Robbie Robbins have curated and designed a beautiful hardcover that must not be missed.”
“This special book is packed with illustrated eye-candy that we know fans will adore,” said Christina Nix Lynch, licensing director at King Features. “But we are particularly thrilled that the prolific talent responsible for the Popeye’s Cartoon Club digital comics will have the opportunity to see their work live on through a new medium in this beautifully curated anthology.”
For updates, follow Clover Press on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and Yoe! Books on Twitter and Facebook. Visit Kickstarter to find the title.