History ComicStrip / Pogo

* BabyTalk: Grundoon, the [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter ridiculously cute]] baby woodchuck, speaks only in random consonants like "GNBX" and "SVMPS."

While superficially a silly comic strip about {{funny animal}}s, it was also a satire -- subtle and, well, not -- about modern times, and frequently delved into politics -- so much so that ''Pogo'' often found itself the target of criticism and censorship. In such cases, Kelly often responded in kind; for instance, by placing a paper bag over the head of a controversial character (based on Senator UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy) when a newspaper said that they would drop the strip if his face ever appeared again. Later, he would create "fluffy bunny" versions of his daily strips, featuring rabbit characters engaging in simple slapstick, whose real purpose was to inform the readers that their local newspaper was censoring its comics page.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn:In the early days, before the strip was nationally syndicated, Pogo was the stupidest cast member and was easily taken advantage of by the other characters. He was also a lot more jerkish and could get directly mean sometimes.

* AsymmetricDilemma

* CannotTellAJoke: Porky Pine.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the early days, before the strip was nationally syndicated, Pogo was the stupidest cast member and was easily taken advantage of by the other characters. He was also a lot more jerkish and could get directly mean sometimes.

* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: Hepzibah, especially in the birthday special (voiced by Creator/JuneForay).
* ExposedAnimalBellybutton

* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Pogo with his signature striped shirt, Barnstable Bear with his checkered hat and slacks, and Deacon Mushrat with his country preacher outfit, among others.

* MediumAwareness: The characters would occasionally acknowledge that they were in a comic, both by PaintingTheMedium (see below), [[FourthWallMailSlot answering mail from readers]] or otherwise make references to their status as comic book characters by (among other things) complaining that the comic wasn't funny enough or remarking that the punchline for today's strip was in the wrong panel.

* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Averted with Albert most of the time, but played straight with him in the earliest comics.

* PaintingTheMedium: P.T. Bridgeport and Deacon Muskrat speak in stylized fonts. Albert, Churchy, and others are known to lean on or against the comic border for support - and Albert even lights matches by striking them against the borders. One famous strip even has Albert explaining to Bear how the modern comic strip works ... by [[MediumAwareness pointing to features in their own strip]].
** The same gag popped up when Porkypine was trying to break into cartooning.
--->'''Albert:''' ...And down here we have the date of the comical strip.
--->'''Porky:''' Indisputably droll.

* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Most female swamp critters wear bonnets and/or aprons, and Hepzibah wears a skirt. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an early strip in which Miz Hop Frog fools Pogo into thinking she's Mister Hop Frog simply by removing her apron.

* TheTrickster: Seminole Sam, the slick-talking fox, was always out to separate the Okeefenokee folks from their money. [[FridgeLogic (They have money?)]] Over the decades he tried just about every scam imaginable - dirt in a box ("you can't wash clothes unless you have dirt!"), magic elixir ("Made of pure H20!"), admission to invisible or impossible things [[RefugeInAudacity ("The U.S. Constitution engraved on the point of a pin!")]], and more. At one point he swapped another character who'd fallen asleep to some passing church-mice for their boat, claiming the sleeping character was a "tumbled-down church." Sometimes he got his comeuppance, [[KarmaHoudini sometimes he didn't]], and sometimes [[TakeAThirdOption he and the rest of the characters got sidetracked]] by a fresh face, the resurfacing of an old plot, or [[ItMakesSenseInContext the World Series.]]

While superficially a silly comic strip about {{funny animal}}s, it was also a satire -- subtle and, well, not -- about modern times, and frequently delved into politics -- so much so that ''Pogo'' often found itself the target of criticism and censorship. In such cases, Kelly often responded in kind; for instance, by placing a paper bag over the head of a controversial character (based on Senator UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy) when a newspaper said that they would drop the strip if his face ever appeared again. Later, he would create "fluffy bunny" versions of his Sunday strips, featuring rabbit characters engaging in simple slapstick, whose real purpose was to inform the readers that their local newspaper was censoring its comics page.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Thousands.

A [[PrintLongRunners long-running]] (1948–75, plus a 1989–93 revival) daily NewspaperComic starring Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Churchy La Femme, Howland Owl, Porky Pine, Beauregard Bugleboy, Miz Mam'selle Hepzibah, Miz Beaver, and sundry other {{talking animal}}s residing in UsefulNotes/{{Georgia|USA}}'s Okeefenokee Swamp.

A [[PrintLongRunners long-running]] (1948–75, plus a 1989–93 revival) daily NewspaperComic starring Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Churchy La Femme, Howland Owl, Porky Pine, Beauregard Bugleboy, Miz Mam'selle Hepzibah, Miz Beaver, and other {{talking animal}}s in Georgia's Okeefenokee Swamp.

* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The 1989–93 revival strip was called ''Walt Kelly's Pogo'', although Kelly himself (who'd died in 1973, even before the original strip ended its run) had nothing whatsoever to do with it.[[note]]Though his son and daughter, Pete and Carolyn, took over the strip in March of 1992[[/note]]

Early versions of Pogo and Albert (alongside a quickly-phased-out human protagonist named Bumbazine) were regulars in [[Creator/DellComics Dell's]] ''Animal Comics'' starting with its very first issue in 1942, but within a few years the characters had moved to the newspapers, and ''Pogo'' soon established itself as one of the all-time comic strip classics. Creator Walt Kelly (1913–1973), a former Creator/{{Disney}} animator, filled his strip with dozens -- actually, ''hundreds'' -- of characters, all of them with distinct personalities, motivations and goals that would frequently collide. Kelly's ear for dialect and language, in addition to his skill with nonsense poetry, has been compared to Creator/MarkTwain and Creator/OgdenNash.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Every Christmas the strip would have the characters sing a mangled version of "Deck the Halls", which famously begins with "Deck us all with Boston Charlie..."

While superficially a silly comic strip about {{funny animal}}s, it was also a satire -- subtle and, well, not -- about modern times, and frequently delved into politics -- so much so that ''Pogo'' often found itself the target of criticism and censorship. In such cases, Kelly often responded in kind; for instance, by placing a paper bag over the head of a controversial character (based on Senator UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy) when a newspaper said that they would drop the strip if his face ever appeared again. Later, he would write "fluffy bunny" versions of his Sunday strips, featuring rabbit characters engaging in simple slapstick, whose real purpose was to inform the readers that their local newspaper was censoring its comics page.

Early versions of Pogo and Albert (alongside a quickly-phased-out human protagonist named Bumbazine) were regulars in [[Creator/DellComics Dell's]] ''Animal Comics'' starting with its very first issue in 1942, but within a few years the characters had moved to the newspapers, and ''Pogo'' soon became one of the all-time comic strip classics. Creator Walt Kelly (1913–1973), a former Creator/{{Disney}} animator, filled his strip with dozens -- actually, ''hundreds'' -- of characters, all with distinct personalities, motivations and goals that would frequently collide. Kelly's ear for dialect and language, in addition to his skill with nonsense poetry, has been compared to Creator/MarkTwain and Creator/OgdenNash.

* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Averted with Albert.

* AnimatedAdaptation: ''The Pogo Special Birthday Special'' (1969), animated by Creator/ChuckJones; ''We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us'' (1970), a short film animated by Kelly himself; and ''I Go Pogo'' (1980), a feature length StopMotion film.

* {{Gonk}}: If it wasn't clear what Kelly's politics were, Simple J. Malarkey is by far the ''ugliest'' character in the strip.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Simple J. Malarkey was Senator UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy as a bobcat. In this case, though, the intent was pretty obviously not "not harming" the celebrity in question; the Jack Acid Society storyline was one of the most savage indictments of a politician in comics since ThomasNast took on Tammany Hall.

** Although the 'bunny strips' increased his already-formidable daily workload, he was willing to pay that price to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar express himself.]] The First Amendment prevented him from getting sued, but he had a lot of very [[ObstructiveBureaucrat nervous newspaper editors]] to pacify.

Early versions of Pogo and Albert (alongside a quickly-phased-out human protagonist named Bumbazine) were regulars in [[Creator/DellComics Dell's]] ''Animal Comics'' (1941) starting with its very first issue, but within a few years the characters had moved to the newspapers, and ''Pogo'' soon became one of the all-time comic strip classics. Creator Walt Kelly (1913–1973), a former Creator/{{Disney}} animator, filled his strip with dozens -- actually, ''hundreds'' -- of characters, all with distinct personalities, motivations and goals that would frequently collide. Kelly's ear for dialect and language, in addition to his skill with nonsense poetry, has been compared to Creator/MarkTwain and Creator/OgdenNash.

Early versions of Pogo and Albert (alongside a quickly-phased-out human protagonist named Bumbazine) were regulars in [[Creator/DellComics Dell's]] ''Animal Comics'' (1941) starting with the very first issue, but it quickly moved to the newspapers, and soon became one of the all-time comic strip classics. Creator Walt Kelly (1913–1973), a former Creator/{{Disney}} animator, filled his strip with dozens -- actually, ''hundreds'' -- of characters, all with distinct personalities, motivations and goals that would frequently collide. Kelly's ear for dialect and language, in addition to his skill with nonsense poetry, has been compared to Creator/MarkTwain and Creator/OgdenNash.

A [[PrintLongRunners long-running]] (1948–75, plus a 1989–93 revival) daily NewspaperComic starring Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Churchy La Femme, Howland Owl, Porky Pine, Beauregard Bugleboy, Miz Beaver, and other {{talking animal}}s in Georgia's Okeefenokee Swamp.

* CannotTellAJoke: Porkypine.
-->'''Porkypine:''' This is a humorous anecdote. A goat lost his nose -- the first man says, "What will he smell with now?" The other replies, "As bad as ever." Haw haw haw?

-->'''Porkypine:''' One would '''think''' that the employees of a comic strip would have a sense of humor.

* AnimatedAdaptation: ''Pogo's Special Birthday Special'' (1969), animated by Creator/ChuckJones; ''We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us'' (1970), a short film animated by Kelly himself; and ''I Go Pogo'' (1980), a feature length StopMotion film.

** These included [[{{Malaproper}} malaprops]], {{Spoonerism}}s, and good ol'-fashioned American gibberish. Examples include ''rhiknockwurst'' (a large gray African herbivore), ''Walla Walla''[[note]]Though this is the name of a real town in the state of Washington, not something Kelly made up[[/note]] (a place-holder for the surprisingly-frequent occasions on which the characters forget the words to the song they're rehearsing), ''rackety coon'' (local swamp residents who have black masks and banded tails) and ''rowrbazzle'' (an exclamation of disbelief and/or disdain.)

* {{Fictionary}}: "Swamp-speak", based on U.S. southern dialect, with many made-up words. Many, many. Kelly was a master of nonsense verse, and had absolutely no shame in using his skill at the drop of a hat.
** These included malaprops, Spoonerisms and good ol'-fashioned American gibberish. Examples include ''rhiknockwurst'' (a large gray African herbivore), ''Walla Walla''[[note]]Though this is the name of a real town in the US state of Washington, not something Kelly made up[[/note]] (a place-holder for the surprisingly-frequent occasions on which the characters forget the words to the song they're rehearsing), ''rackety coon'' (local swamp residents who have black masks and banded tails) and ''rowrbazzle'' (an exclamation of disbelief and/or disdain.)

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: PlayedWith in the case of Porkypine. He is capable of acts of kindness, but he does so in a pretty taciturn manner.

A [[PrintLongRunners long-running]] (1948–75, plus a 1989–93 revival) daily NewspaperComic starring Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Churchy La Femme, Howland Owl, Beauregard Bugleboy, Porky Pine, Miz Beaver, and other {{talking animal}}s in Georgia's Okeefenokee Swamp.