Cannabis Culture's Dana Larsen argues that Popeye's "spinach" is really ... well, I'll just quote the article:
Since his creation, the pipe-puffing Popeye has become a global phenomenon, with millions of kids heartily munching on spinach in the hopes that it will make them as strong as the legendary sailor-man.
Yet is the spinach which gives Popeye his super-strength really a metaphor for another magical herb? Have children around the world been adoring a hero who is really a heavy consumer of the forbidden weed -- marijuana?
The short answer is no, but Larsen has constructed a pretty entertaining case anyway. I especially enjoyed the argument that "the use of phrase, 'I yam what I yam,' can be seen as a reference to Popeye's use of the burning cannabis bush, which creates his higher awareness of the self-reflective nature of the Godhead."
It helps that Bobby London, a veteran of the infamous Air Pirates Funnies collective, took over the strip in the '80s. A decade earlier, the Air Pirates crew had gotten into trouble for producing unauthorized comics in which the Disney characters got laid and got high. Put in charge of the authorized Popeye, London eventually gave into temptation:
The only Popeye strip to ever explicitly refer to the pot/spinach connection was published in the 1980s by illustrator Bobby London. The comic showed Popeye and Wimpy picking up a load of "pure Bolivian spinach."
London did the syndicated Popeye daily strip for King Features from 1986 to 1992, and was known for putting adult, controversial themes into his work....London was eventually fired from Popeye for writing an allegorical satire about the abortion issue.
If you prefer the Popeye of E.C. Segar and the Fleischer Brothers, there's a nice tribute site here.
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|2.15.05 @ 8:16PM|#
Well, blow me down!
|2.15.05 @ 8:22PM|#
If anyone had the munchies, it was Wimpy.
|2.15.05 @ 9:15PM|#
Speaking of revisionism, what about the news that the libertarian girl blog is actually a libertarian guy with a mail order bride pic?
|2.15.05 @ 9:56PM|#
I'm Popeye the sailor man / I smoke all the weed I can / From May to December / Weed's all I remember / I'm Popeye the sailor man
Jeff|2.15.05 @ 10:03PM|#
"Man, you gotta hook me up! I'll gladly pay you tuesday..."
Olive Oyl is the embodiment of heroin chic.
The Katzenjammer Kids peddled bootleg hooch.
Yellow Kid dealt opium on street corners.
And so on and so on...
|2.15.05 @ 10:41PM|#
Brilliant Jeff.
Wouldn't 'roids be a better analogue for Popeye's spinach? Barry didn't get big and strong smoking grass? Getting into fights every Saturday morning is a classic 'roid rage response.
Wimpy is most definitely the pothead. And what's with Alice the goon.
Kevin Carson|2.15.05 @ 11:01PM|#
I'm just astounded that Bobby London managed to get the Popeye gig at all. That's like, say, putting Joe Schenckman in charge of Lil' Abner.
|2.15.05 @ 11:07PM|#
Maybe it's marijuana cut or "dusted" with PCP. Explains everything.
|2.15.05 @ 11:35PM|#
Call me weird, but marijuana just makes me wanna sleep, not work-out or lift heavy objects
The Wine Commonsewer|2.16.05 @ 12:14AM|#
Oh Wow Man,
and Lewis Carroll was doing LSD when he wrote about Alice, man.
Seriously, though, 'pure Bolivian Spinach' is hilariously funny. But, it's funny because of the absurdity...
Makes you see things as they really are.....
|2.16.05 @ 12:16AM|#
So what does that make the magical Whiffle Hen?
Kevin
|2.16.05 @ 1:14AM|#
Eugene The Magical Jeep definetly had an orchid addiction.
|2.16.05 @ 1:36AM|#
Well...I never really thought much of Popeye.
But clearly Scooby-Doo and Shaggy had some "special" ingredients in those Scooby Snacks. I mean...Just look at Shaggy's disheveled appearance. And those two were always hungry.
And don't even get me started on what I think was going on between Fred, Velma and Daphne...Mmmmmmm...Daphne [slobber...slobber]...
|2.16.05 @ 2:54AM|#
What are the Tele Tubbies on? :)
|2.16.05 @ 5:12AM|#
and Lewis Carroll was doing LSD when he wrote about Alice...
The colors, man, the colors!
|2.16.05 @ 8:18AM|#
You know how Mighty Mouse gets his powers? Cocaine, man..
http://www.toontracker.com/terry/terry4.htm
And don't get me started on HR Pufnstuff..
Andrew Ian Dodge|2.16.05 @ 9:04AM|#
I always thought it was cannabis myself. Not that I am consumate stoner, but I guess I must have been warped by watching too many Chech & Chong movies.
|2.16.05 @ 11:45AM|#
What are the Tele Tubbies on? :)
Obviously ecstasy. They're wearing those weird little onesie raver outfits. And they like to dance a lot, too, I think (?)
Kevin Carson|2.16.05 @ 1:55PM|#
MayDay72,
Have you seen that hairspray commercial with Velma's animated hair blowing in the wind? Man, she's hot!
|2.16.05 @ 2:19PM|#
Popeye is actually a flagrantly blasphemous anti-religious work. "I Am That I Am" is mocked by "I Yam What I Yam." It should be banned immediately