popeye

CREATOR

Name: Elzie Crisler Segar.
Personal dates: Born 1894 in Illinois, USA. Died 1938 in California, USA.
Other creations: Thimble Theater.
Successors: Hy Eisman, Bud Sagendorf, Tom Sims, George Wildman, Bela Zaboly.
Comments: Although Segar created the character - and the series - of Popeye in 1929 he used a few other characters in the series (Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl, Ham Gravy) from the newspaper strip Thimble Theater which premiered in 1919.

MAIN STORY

The series premiered in 1929.

The character of Popeye is clearly a sailor by profession, but it is extremely rare to see him on the ocean waves. He divides all his time between his adopted son Swee'Pea and his friend Wimpy, but is constantly interrupted by the busy-bodied Olive Oyl. Still, they seem to have some kind of attraction to eachother.
Popeye himself may well be recognized as the world's first superhero, because of his periodical intake of spinach which supplies him with enormous power.

NB.: The well-known character of Bluto (later Brutus) - Popeye's strong antagonist with a crush on Olive Oyl - was not one of Segar's creations. He was invented by the Fleischer Studios for their cartoons.