"We have met the enemy ..."
by
nadezhda
on Sun 24 Oct 2004 09:18 PM EDT
There are political seasons when certain phrases seem to latch themselves to the brain, repeating themselves over and over, like a song's refrain. This year there have been two for me. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (even though the remark was occasioned by a Depression-era inaugural, not the war that began on the day that still lives in infamy). And "We have met the enemy and he is us."
I came to Walt Kelly and Pogo late in Kelly's career, when even his strongest admirers would admit he was well past his most creative years, and when the characters had been running for decades and the strips assumed a knowledge of their past adventures not evident from the later tales. Like devoted fans before me, I was captivated by the humor of a funny sketch between a couple of foolish characters, or some over-the-top word play, or Kelly's unique manner of penciling in words in the background or margins of frames: familiar signs, topical quotes, brand-names, mangled literary allusions or sayings. Although I had the impression Kelly began more as a journalist/writer than cartoonist, I knew little about him, and never had the benefit of the long history of Pogo before I became an occasional reader.
Imagine then my pleasure, when Henry at
Crooked Timber found a lengthy review/appreciation of a major part of the opus of Walt Kelley that's currently available in a series of eleven volumes of Pogo (1948-60). The essay is by John Crowley in the
Boston Review. Of topical interest this political season, Crowley doesn't neglect Kelly as social and political satirist. He gives a flavor of how the McCarthy era, in particular, played out in the characters and storylines of Pogo.
more »
JC has a comment that points us to Eminem's just-released GOTV video of his new anti-Bush song. Salon's got some remarks here.