{"id":2546,"date":"2016-05-03T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2546"},"modified":"2024-01-09T10:21:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T18:21:49","slug":"maggies-world-040-great-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-040-great-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 040: Great Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 040: Great Power<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cGood grief!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, that exclamation was in wide circulation long before Charles Schulz used it as an expression of dismay and exasperation in Peanuts<\/em>. Although it seems forever bound to Charlie Brown, it was Patty who first uttered the phrase in the strip\u2014on July 15, 1952. (Thanks, Fantagraphics indexer!) Nevertheless, \u201cGood grief!\u201d is just one instance of what seems to be an endless cycle of catch phrases that travel from the rest of the world to comics\u2014and from comics to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comics have embedded memorable terms in pop-culture conversations for years\u2014sometimes entering conversation for decades, sometimes being eventually discarded. And some just remain as recurring references for families and friends who recall a favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Just inside the front cover of\u00a0The Pogo Papers<\/em>\u00a0(1953), Walt Kelly wrote the sentiment for which he may be best remembered. \u00a9 2016 Okefenokee Glee & Perloo Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
On a Personal Level: Walt Kelly<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Memorable quotes from comics may simply be those that touch a personal nerve. Mom and Dad named their fanzine The Cricket<\/em> (June 1949, circulation 36) from a Pogo story by Walt Kelly (1913-1973) in Animal Comics<\/em> #27 (June-July 1947), in which an English sparrow reproved Albert and Pogo: \u201cYo\u2019 should improve yo\u2019 manners\u2014play cricket\u2014drink tea\u2014lif\u2019 de pinky when yo\u2019 holds de cup.\u201d Don and I titled our CAPA-alpha contribution Rainy Days<\/em> from Kelly\u2019s Four Color<\/em> #148 (May 1947), \u201cRainy days is fust rate fo\u2019 visitin\u2019 yo\u2019 friends!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was, after all, Kelly who led Mom, Dad, and the rest of my family to collect comic books in the first place, and we followed his tales over the decades, first in comic books and then in newspapers. To this day, when I look in the mirror, I often refer mentally to a sequence in The Pogo<\/em> Peek-A-Book<\/em> (1955), in which Albert (as Mother Goose) asked Pogo (as a wandering musician), \u201cIs you wonderin\u2019 why me, Mother Goose, is wored out an\u2019 frazzy lookin\u2019?\u201d Pogo said, \u201c \u2018Wored out,\u2019 yes\u2014\u2018Frazzy lookin\u2019,\u2019 no.\u201d \u201cDear boy,\u201d Albert responded, \u201cyou thinks I isn\u2019t frazzy lookin\u2019?\u201d And Pogo said, \u201cNo, I jes\u2019 don\u2019t wonder why you is.\u201d That\u2019s the sort of quote that can come to mind unbidden. Just saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, while his gags enriched my personal life, Kelly also came up with a saying that resonated with many voters across the country in 1952: \u201cI go Pogo!\u201d It was in response to that year\u2019s presidential choices (Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson)\u2014and, no doubt, to the \u201cI like Ike\u201d of that year\u2019s election slogans. Although Pogo had not agreed to run, P.T. Bridgeport ordered a bag of \u201cI go Pogo!\u201d buttons, which were delivered to him in the strip for May 14. Kelly used those buttons as a promotional tool for months, making them available to those who asked. While the first collection of the daily strip (1951) was titled Pogo<\/em>, the second was I Go Pogo<\/em>\u2014and that might have been his most famous catch phrase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except for another one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the internet tends to ascribe the origin of one of the most famous comics quotes to his strip for Earth Day 1971, Kelly had initiated the sentiment nearly two decades earlier, referring (as he so often did) to politics. He went on to simplify it and used it in the daily strip referring to pollution even before that Earth Day strip. On July 11, 1970, Pogo looked at the Fort Mudge Memorial Dump and said, \u201cLook at all that clutter of junk\u2014dumped there by guess who \u2026\u201d Porky responded, \u201cBy every dogblag one of us \u2026 The root of all pollution is the public dump.\u201d To which Pogo said, \u201cOr even the private dump \u2026 Yep, we have met the enemy and he is us\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comic Strips<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

From private favorites to national parlance, then, comic strips have provided notable words and phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas (\u201cTad\u201d) Dorgan (1877-1929) provided many of the best known. Wikipedia is cautious in its credits, saying that he is \u201cgenerally credited with either creating or popularizing\u201d terms. And he did not apparently invent the term \u201chot dog\u201d for, um, hot dogs. But he still gets a tip of the hat for the likes of \u201cdumbbell,\u201d \u201ccat\u2019s pajamas,\u201d \u201ccheaters,\u201d \u201chard-boiled,\u201d and \u201cyes\u2014we have no bananas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other credits come to mind, one after another. H.T. Webster (1885-1952) maintained ongoing panel series with titles that resonated, including \u201cThe Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime,\u201d \u201cLife\u2019s Darkest Moment,\u201d and \u201cThe Timid Soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elzie Segar (1894-1938) came up with a meme in Thimble Theatre<\/em> that began in 1932 with Wimpy saying, \u201cCook me up a hamburger. I\u2019ll pay you Thursday.\u201d (Yes, Thursday. That, too, evolved, eventually ending up as Tuesday. But I digress.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so on. Many sayings that were once part of the language have faded from use. Though Stephen Becker opined in Comic Art in America<\/em> (1959) that \u201cNotary Sojac\u201d and \u201c1506 nix nix\u201d from Smokey Stover<\/em> by Bill Holman (1903-1987) were \u201cheaded for immortality,\u201d few today will have even heard the terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, sometimes the immortality is conferred by catch phrases\u2019 spreading to other media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comic Books<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Shazam!<\/em> That word first hit newsstands in Whiz Comics<\/em> #2 (February 1940)\u2014and was quickly followed by another expression. Initially, Billy Batson used a variety of exclamations (including \u201cHoly smoke!\u201d [twice] in Whiz Comics<\/em> #10, November 1940). But it was in \u201cCapt. Marvel and Sivana the Weather Wizard\u201d in Special Edition Comics<\/em> #1 (1940) that scripter Bill Parker had Billy Batson first exclaim, when Billy was caught in a cyclone on Venus: \u201cHoly moley, what a breeze!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Wikipedia (Thanks, Straight Dope<\/em>\u2014which came up with the 1892 book Running It Off!<\/em>) provides scattered earlier references, it was Billy\u2019s use that popularized the exclamation \u201cHoly moley!\u201d And it was TV that kept the expression \u201cShazam!\u201d in public parlance, thanks to Gomer Pyle\u2019s use, first on The Andy Griffith Show<\/em> in 1962 (less than a decade after the end of the Fawcett series) and later on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Interestingly, \u201cShazam\u201d\u2014coined for comics\u2014has been adopted for other applications on the internet, but you knew that, right? Moving on, then \u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cover of the comics-racked Mad<\/em> #21 (March 1955) featured a tiny picture on the cover that was E.C.\u2019s first use of an image it eventually adopted as its symbol. Two issues later, when the publication changed format to that of a black-and-white magazine, the yet-to-be-named Alfred E. Neuman appeared at the top of Harvey Kurtzman\u2019s ornate cover frame, captioned \u201cWhat? Me Worry?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With startling recoloring (courtesy of the Barnes & Noble 2003 version of\u00a0The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em>\u00a0Masterworks edition Vol. 1), here\u2019s that first statement of the caution to Peter Parker in\u00a0Amazing Fantasy<\/em>\u00a0#15 (September 1962, despite what the cover said). \u00a9 2016 Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When comic books entered the Silver Age, a generation of Marvel readers adopted a new vocabulary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the caption in Spider-Man\u2019s debut in Amazing Fantasy<\/em> #15 (September 1962) wasn\u2019t quite \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility!\u201d But it wasn\u2019t long before that expression defined the Web-Slinger\u2014and the obligations of the super-powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHulk smash!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2019Nuff said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clobbering time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFace front, true believers!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know you can come up with many more\u2014from years and years of amazing tales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

While comic strips and comic books have enriched public parlance for decades, the tradition continues in other forms of comics. David Malki\u2019s internet series Wondermark<\/em> #1062: \u201cThe Terrible Sea Lion\u201d resulted in the 2014 term \u201csea lioning\u201d for a specific obnoxious social behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it continues, with other pop-culture media adopting comics terms. After all, who before 2014 would have said, \u201cI am Groot,\u201d although the character said that (and more) in Marvel\u2019s Tales to Astonish<\/em> #13 (November 1960)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all about trending hashtags, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who knows what might be next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know, it just might be \u201cShazam!\u201d again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on <\/em>Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n