Carolyn and I just received an advance copy, hot off the press I suppose, of Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips, Vol. 2: Bona Fide Balderdash. Beneath the lovely cover which she painted, we found, right where we left 'em, two more years of the superb creation of her father, Walt Kelly. Some have called Pogo the best comic strip ever and…well, if you prefer another, fine. More power to you. But Pogo is really quite wonderful. Its characters are alive and witty and everything they do is irresistible. The material in the first volume was great and in the years covered in this collection, Kelly was really beginning to be as good as he could be. Which was better than just about anybody.
There's a foreword by Stan Freberg and articles by R.C. Harvey and me…but never mind us. It's two years of Pogo, daily and Sunday — with the Sunday pages in full color. If you got Volume One, no further sales pitch is needed. (And if you didn't get Volume One, or maybe if you did, know this: You'll soon be able to buy the first two volumes in a slipcased set, and you'll also be able to buy the slipcase separately. The slipcase was expertly designed by Carolyn Kelly, as well.)
I'm not sure when Volume Two will be in stores. Amazon gives its official publication date as December 21 but we have a finished copy here so they should be available everywhere long before 12/21. You can advance-order Volume Two at this link or wait until I post a link for the slipcased set. Either way, you're gonna love this book.