Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Inside an Easter Egg"

Sometimes Walt (Pogo) Kelly did single page shorts...

...sometimes he combined several unrelated short pieces into a theme, like what you might see inside an Easter Egg!

...as this never-reprinted piece from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) demonstrates!

Monday Holiday Madness EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Hot Cross Buns"...TWO WAYS!

Sometimes Walt (Pogo) Kelly liked a nursery rhyme so much...he used it twice!

Such is the case with this one...first from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946), and then, with an extra rhyme, in Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949)

You gotta admit, if there's anyone who can do a classic nursery rhyme and make it appear fresh both times, it's Walt!

Friday Holiday Fun EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Humpty Dumpty"

 An Easter-themed combination of a pair of classic nursery rhymes...

... courtesy of legendary writer/artist Walt (Pogo) Kelly...who really knew how to freshen up an old concept!

This never-reprinted short from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose (1948) expands on the nursery rhyme with a new adventure of the accident-prone ovum!

Walt Kelly also used Humpty in other Mother Goose comic stories.

Oddly, the cover, also by Walt Kelly, features a radically-different version of Humpty...

Weird, eh?

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Goldilocks and the Baby Bear's Basket"

Here's a classic fairy tale everybody knows...

...adapted, with a couple of twists, for the Easter season by Walt (Pogo) Kelly!

A never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #140 (1947) demonstrates how Walt Kelly could take even a tale you didn't think would work in this context and make it seasonally-appropriate!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Lost Chick"

Some of Walt (Pogo) Kelly's Easter tales were totally-new...

...not just reworkings of classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales!

This never-reprinted short from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #185 (1948) takes characters who had not appeared together before and also explains where the Easter Bunny gets his supply of eggs from.

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Shorts"

Several one-pagers by Walt (Pogo) Kelly...

...from various issues of Dell's Four Color Comics' Easter with Mother Goose annual issues!

Note, none have ever been reprinted!

From Dell's Four Color Comics #103 (1946), #140 (1947), #185 (1948), and #220 (1949)

Enjoy!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Egg Hunt with Mother Goose"

Here's a never-reprinted example of Walt (Pogo) Kelly's superb art (and puzzle-creating skills)...

...from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949)!

Imagine getting one of these 52-page annuals in your Easter basket along with jellybeans, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps!

Several 7-10 page stories, a number of 1-2 page features, games, and, usually, a wraparound cover!

Would've kept the 5-8 year-old me occupied in those dark days before TV (much less the Internet)!

Friday Fun / Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Ten Little Easter Eggs"

This year, Easter Egg hunts are likely to be scaled down...

...due to scarcity and expense of the lovingly-hand colored items!

So we're providing this Walt (Pogo) Kelly written/illustrated short published in Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) to show today's young ones what they're missing this year!
In addition, this "gentle" little piece is a classic example of innocently-violent, yet kid-friendly material rarely-seen today.
(And please, no politically-correct comments about the "Two little Easter eggs playing with a gun" rhyme.)

Friday Fun YAK YAK "Romance vs Realism"

Last Friday, we presented the first part of this series about "fiction vs realism"...

...now here's the second, and sadly, final part of the series!

Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.

The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!

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Space Celebration Saturday SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Christmas Comes to Mars"

A decade before Santa Claus Conquers the Martians...

...this short story about little (non-green) Martians meeting Saint Nick showed the Christmas Spirit could be universal!

Illustrated by workhorse Dan Gormley, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color #666 (1955) jumped on the then-popular flying saucer craze.
Gormley began in 1940 by doing super-hero, sci-fi, and horror strips, then transitioned after several years to humor and funny animal, spending the bulk of his career doing lighter fare.
He had a real knack for matching various animation styles and illustrated numerous tales and covers based on animated films and TV shows from the Walter Lantz, Walt Disney, UPA, and Warner Brothers studios until he retired from comics in 1965!

The story is part of the annual Santa Claus Funnies anthology which ran in Four Color every Christmas from 1942 to 1961.
Most of the tales have never been reprinted!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "There's a Santa..."

Here's a kool one pager...

...written and illustrated by Walt (Pogo) Kelly from Dell's Four Color Comics #91 (1945) aka "Santa Claus Funnies"!

Until Christmas, we'll be presenting various Yultide-related items, some will be one or two-pagers like this, some will be longer, even multi-part stories.

Have a seat, get a mug of hot chocolate, and enjoy!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Mr Dumpty Gets Mended" and "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater"

More holiday fun with Walk Kelly's adaptations of nursery rhymes...

...starting with a never-reprinted revisionist short from Dell's Four Color Comics #140: Easter with Mother Goose (1947), showing the Easter Bunny succeeding where All the King's Horses and All the King's Men failed!

Revisionism continues the next year, with another never-reprinted short (with guest-stars Jack and Jill), this time from Dell's Four Color Comics #185: Easter with Mother Goose (1948)...

Should we ask why Peter isn't actually living with his wife?

Trivia: this issue features the now-repaired Humpty Dumpty on the cover!

All script and art by Walt (Pogo) Kelly!

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