There's a Goon in the hall! (and today's mystery photo)
I've been on this rant before, but if you only know Popeye from the cheap shoddy cartoons cranked out after the Fleischers studio stopped making them (pretty much anything where he's wearing the white sailor suit rather than black shirt and captain hat), or from the uninspired filler printed in the comics since 1938 (nothing against Bud Sagendorf, he's just no Segar), then you really have only seen a pale washed-out shadow of the character. E.C. Segar was one of those cartoonists who caught exactly the right facial expression and body pose to convey glee or rage or despair or disinterest. His storytelling ran a full range from one-page gags to recurring situations to full-blown epics where Popeye and his friends went on adventures to match any serious action strip.It's December 1933. An old friend that Popeye hasn't seen in twenty years turns up, "Salty" Bill Barnacle, and he has an offer to go looking for Plunder Island. ("We'll have some fun. Plenty of danger and adventure, aye! Plenty- we may get murdered an' we may come back with gold - pirate's gold- rubies- and pearls the size of eggs.") Popeye is fed up with running his restaurant, watching Wimpy mooch hamburgers and dealing with Olive's contrary ways, so he's all for it. ("I hankers for the sea- I loves danger- So le's go.")But neither knows at this point that they will be crossing paths with the dreaded Sea Hag and her awful slave the Goon...
I mean, well DAMN. Imagine being ten or eleven years old back then and reading this just before you're sent to bed. Alice the Goon and the Sea Hag, unseen, peering through windows and over fences, and even Popeye is uneasy around them..
Well, today's mystery writer-artist. Umm, she's a woman. I don't think you folks need any clues, to be honest.