Toot! Toot!
It’s Popeye the Sailor Man Day! Why? Because on Jan. 17, 1929, he made his first appearance in E.C. Segar’s newspaper strip Thimble Theatre.
Popeye caught on quickly and became the lead character, with cartoons, toys, books, comic books, you name it, to follow.
Since we’re in a colorful mood, here are 13 COVERS from Dell’s midcentury series. These are from the first 50 issues, from 1948 to 1959, all by Bud Sagendorf.
Swell!
Issue #1
Issue #19
Issue #3
Issue #23
Issue #34
Issue #45
Issue #42
Issue #40
Issue #7
Issue #16
Issue #18
Issue #8
Issue #50
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MORE
— POPEYE AND HIS PAPA: A Birthday Tribute to the Great E.C. SEGAR. Click here.
— Dig These 13 Eye-Poppin’ Classic POPEYE Toys. Click here.
January 17, 2026
Great cover picks! I think the only Popeye I ever read as a kid would have been published by the Big Little Book folks. Would love to see some of the newspaper run. Maybe Peter could tackle that. And seems like a good time to remind everyone of Jim’s recently published prose Tales of the “Sailor Man”https://a.co/d/dgC7nLN
January 18, 2026
Here you go, Buck: https://13thdimension.com/popeye-and-his-papa-a-birthday-tribute-to-the-great-e-c-segar/
January 18, 2026
Thanks, Dan. Now I need to go to Chester, Illinois. I wonder how much of the original run is available somewhere in print? Guess I know what I’ll be searching for today while I sit out the rain and cold.
January 17, 2026
Ideal una de Segar
January 17, 2026
That bearded guy isn’t Bluto but The Big Guy That Hates Popeye-one of the descriptive names which had to be used for quite awhile.