The Comics Journal Message Board

[Ryan Johnson]

Just curious-- is the first volume of The Complete Pogo still on track for a May 2009 release? And if not, any idea when it will eventually be coming out?

I plan on buying every volume, although I'll admit that I'm eager to get past the first few volumes, as those early years were all compiled in the large trade paperbacks I collected as a kid, so it will be a while before the series gets around to uncharted territory for me...

[Jeffrey Meyer]

Amazon.com has it listed as something like a "December 2009" release...

What's the hold-up on this project?
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[Ryan Johnson]

Barnes & Noble has it listed for May 15th, but I find it hard to believe it could be that close without us hearing anything about it. Will it be out by Xmas 09? Or later?

Also, when will the next Krazy Kat books be released?

[emb021]

[Kim Thompson]

POGO has production difficulties due to the really horrible state of the first year's worth of Sundays in all available versions. We're taking our time on it because we want to do it right. It will definitely NOT be out in 2009.

There will be a KRAZY KAT within the next 12 months, 1917-1919 Sundays. Then 1920-1922 in 2010, and 1923-1925 in 2011 or maybe even late 2010.

[Ryan Johnson]

Wow, is Pogo proving more difficult to preserve than Krazy Kat was? (Did that come as a shock/surprise? I would have thought that Kelly's body of work was well-looked after...)

Oh well, I'm sure that it will be worth the wait to have it in the best possible quality. (I'm somewhat relieved just to have a clear answer so I can basically put it out of my mind until 2010...)

[emb021]

[Kim Thompson]

Yeah, subtract one from each of the years I listed, I wasn't paying attention. 1916 through 1924.

[But anyway]

Does the date on Amazon.com( September 28, 2010)have anything to do with reality in this plane of existence?

Uncle But
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[Steven Stwalley]

Just curious, Kim... didn't you guys reprint all the strips that are going to be in the new volume previously? Is the art used in those is not good enough for some reason? They looked awfully good to me!

I've been reading old Pogo comic books with my 4-year daughter recently, and they just get better with age and rereading. Can't wait to see the new reprints!
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[Kim Thompson]

We're doing the Sundays too this time, though. Although Ohio State U has scans of all the Sunday strips, some of them are missing one central panel (because the "vertical" format version has one panel less than the "horizontal" and OSU has only the vertical versions) and literally no collector in the world appears to have the horizontal version with that panel. Fortunately Walt Kelly's daughter, who is helping us with this, has BW repros of the first year's Sundays with those panels, which we're going to have to scan, insert and digitally color to match the rest of the strips (faking the blotchiness and resistration problems of the surrounding strip as needed). It's been a long, long haul getting that last year of Sundays up to snuff is all I can say.

[Steve Hogan]

Looking forward to the fruits of all that effort. Any rough game plan on how many books per year at this point?
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[Russ Maheras]

[But anyway]