Posted on 07/08/2022 6:19:08 PM PDT by Ennis85
After nearly a hundred years in existence, the Popeye comic strip is reportedly getting a woke makeover, with the strip’s latest cartoonist promising more ethnic diversity and “more characters who aren’t heterosexual.”
Cartoonist Randal K. Milholland described the Popeye character as being “gender fluid,” citing old episodes in which the plot required Popeye to dress in drag.
“I [want] to bring in more characters who aren’t heterosexual,” Milholland said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. “I don’t live in that purely straight white world, and I don’t think a lot of other people do either.”
In one of the strip’s biggest changes, Olive Oyl’s sister-in-law Cylinda Oyl is now Afro-Latina. Cylinda has traditionally been portrayed as a white woman with dark, bobbed hair.
Milholland took issue with the way Popeye has recently used men dressing as woman for comic relief.
“But that wasn’t always the case,” he told the newspaper. “If you go by today’s definition, Popeye was gender fluid.”
During the strip’s early days, Popeye once met an orphaned girl who didn’t have a mother.
“So Popeye dresses up as a woman and says, ‘I’m your mom now,’” Milholland said. “And it’s not a joke; it’s Popeye being the kind character he originally was. Someone who’d do whatever he could for someone down on their luck, like an orphan.”
The Popeye character was first seen in 1929 in the Thimble Theatre comic strip. The comic is still owned by King Features Syndicate, a division of Hearst Communications.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Popeye’s daily strip is in permanent repeats in a handful of papers. The Sunday strip is in about 20, not even a living wage for the artist. King Features keeps it alive because of the high value of the trademark.
Popeye also had an abortion story a couple of decades ago that made headlines and got the artist fired.
And now likely won't make it
Avaricious cuck <spit>
Wimpy has been “burger-sexual” from the start so I don’t get the charge of not being diverse...LOL!
Well, he’s always asking to borrow money so he can enjoy a ‘meat treat’.
Et tu, Bluto?
Popeye is transitioning into the comic graveyard.
well blow me down...
I don’t know about that Sea Hag. And what is the creepy character with the long nose? The goon?
It’s a damn cartoon. Why is sexuality even included?
Popeye is in the navy.....but it’s 2022 so he doesn’t need a “beard” anymore. What’s the story with Olive? Ha.
hell in a hand-basket
I stopped getting the paper years ago, so I won’t be seeing this woke garbage. Maybe this will accelerate the death spiral of newspapers into total irrelevance. I’m assuming Popeye is still a staple of the Sunday funnies.
Popeye was actually inspired by a real life guy who was in no way able to pass as a goyl or would be willing to dress as one.
https://sofrep.com/news/the-real-tough-guy-who-was-the-inspiration-for-popeye-the-sailor-man/
Well blow me down.
I’d hate to see what they’ll do to Poopdeck Pappy.
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