Popeye returns to comic books!

IDW Publishing has announced Popeye the Sailor will return in an all-new monthly comic book series in 2012! The series will be co-edited by IDW co-founder Ted Adams, who said Segar's Popeye will be the heart of the series, and comics historian Craig Yoe.  No creative team has been assigned yet, but I truly hope Stephen DeStefano, who has drawn the Max Fleischer style Popeye for King Features for several years, will be tapped to be the artist, or at very least the permanent cover artist.  In an interview, Adams said,

"What we want to do is make comics that are in the vein of the original Segar strips, and create a book that it is fun for all ages. And by that, I don't mean a book that is juvenile and will only be appealing to 6-year-olds, but literally a book that could be read by a 6-year-old or a 40-year-old, and that's the approach we want to take. The intention will be to have each issue be a complete story. There may be themes that stretch beyond individual issues, but we want each issue to be a fun comic book with a beginning, middle, and end within that comic...
There's not going to be an origin story, it's not going to be that sort of thing. And this isn't going to be some modern version of Popeye, or a retelling or re-envisioning of his origin or anything. We're not going to put him in the mall or something like that... That's one of the things Craig and I will work out, but my intention is not to do a modern take on Popeye. He's not going to be walking around with an iPod. I don't think we'll necessarily say what time period it takes place in, but it will be of the period and not today's world. "

 

This is very good news.  Popeye has always been my favorite comic strip and cartoon character.  I truly hope the artwork will look like the classic, polished, and fluid Max Fleischer animated Popeye.  As Adams promised, the stories will be faithful to Segar's strips, but I also hope the writers can work in some of the terrific Fleischer style humor.  A Segar-Fleischer hybrid would be the ultimate Popeye. With DC Comics going down the tubes with their ridiculous Reboot Earth, and completely ignoring Captain Marvel, this new Popeye series is just what the doctored ordered to get me excited for comic books again.  I cannot wait.