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Published by: IDW Publishing / Yoe Books!
Released on: Dec. 10, 2014
Writer: Bud Sagendorf
Artist: Bud Sagendorf
Cover artist: Bud Sagendorf
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Sea Hag makes her second appearance in a row, Wimpy's financial advice equals a windfall for Swee'Pea (and more so himself), and Axle and Cam have another moronic episode. It's most-hands-on-deck for the Thimble Theatre players for three all-new reprinted tales from the 1950s with the best of them right off the bat.
“The Boo-Bird†is about yet another dastardly plot from the Sea Hag to kill Popeye, but this one is a lot less scientific that the last one (remember the powerful magnet she devised to suck all the iron out of all the spinach worldwide?). She's been training a Boo-Bird for twenty years to hate Popeye, using a photo of the swab and bird food to brainwash the little creature. The bird always says “oob!†unless it hates someone. And when it hates someone, that someone gets the reverse call and the bird saying “boo!†causes weakness, as the Boo-Bird's hate is the most powerful hate in the world. Or so says the Sea Hag. After the sailor is at his weakest, her goon can then proceed to beat Popeye to death. For nothing more than a bag of burger meat she gets Wimpy to give Popeye the bird, and it takes a spinach filled shotgun blast to the face for Popeye to get his strength back. Good thinking Olive Oyl.
“Pay Dirt†once again proves to the readers just how much of a piece of shit Wimpy is. Swee'Pea wants a dime to go buy candy, but multi-millionaire sailor/railroad tycoon (probably a billionaire back in the 50s) is also a skinflint and won't give the kid a dime. Instead he makes the baby go figure out how to earn his own money so the baby seeks out the one person he knows can get him something for nothing: Wimpy. After Swee'Pea spills the beans to Wimpy that Popeye has all his gold buried in the yard, the fat bastard takes full advantage of the situation to get rich himself. But he's so stupid that instead of just taking a million and splitting, he sells shovels and digging time in Popeye's yard for a lot less than its worth.
“Axle and Cam†are featured in another tale, the third issue in a row, and this time around Cam is having trouble with keeping charged up. Ever helpful Cam decides to help his robot dad by modifying his feet for him, so he doesn't have to work so hard to move around. Attaching some atomic powered wheels to the bottoms off his dad's feet, Cam unwittingly sets forth a series of events that will shake the very foundation of reality as they in the future know it. Not really, but it causes some trouble for the two buckets of bolts and the hilarity ensues.
If you want to see what else kids were reading in the 50s besides horror and crime comics, these old Popeye reprints can be pretty entertaining. They're goofy and foolish but always a quick, fun read to fill up some mindless time when you don't want to commit to reading for more than a few minutes.
