Illinois Authors

The Illinois Center for the Book banner

Elzie Crisler Segar

Born: 1894 in Chester, Illinois
Died: 1938

Pen Name: E.C. Segar

Connection to Illinois: Segar was born in Chester and also lived in Chicago.

Biography: Elzie Crisler Segar worked as a drummer and film projectionist at a local theater while taking a correspondence course in cartooning. He eventually moved to Chicago, and was hired by the Chicago Herald, which in March 1916 published Segar's first (but short-lived) comic strip, Charlie Chaplin's Comedy Capers. After media mogul William Randolph Hearst bought and closed the Herald, Segar was sent to King Feature Syndicate in New York City, where he created Thimble Theatre, a strip starring a coy flapper named Olive Oyl, her fiance Harold Hamgravy and various members of the Oyl family. It would be another 10 years before the now-legendary Popeye would appear, initially only as a supporting character for one storyline. However, when the sailor bowed out on June 27, 1929, reader complaints poured in; a few weeks later, Popeye was back for good.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction; Illustrator

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers; Children; Young adult readers

Elzie Crisler Segar on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=elzie+crisler+segar


Selected Titles

E.C. Segar's Popeye /
ISBN: 1560979623 OCLC: 173152511

Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, WA : 2006-<2012>

A compilation of classic comic strips from the creator of the original Popeye cartoons follows the picaresque adventures of Popeye and his cohorts--Olive Oyl, Wimpy, Eugene the Jeep, the Sea Hag, and Alice the Goon.

I yam what I yam /
ISBN: 1560977795 OCLC: 68262937

Fantagraphics ; Seattle, Wash. : 2006.

"Fantagraphics' Popeye will collect the complete run of Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip (dailies and color Sundays) featuring Popeye, re-establishing Segar as one of the first rank of cartoonists who have elevated the comic strip to art. He was the most popular cartoonist of his day, his sense of humor coming straight out of Mark Twain, who also balanced exaggerated tall tales and a perfect ear for everyday speech with dark themes that undercut his laugh-out-loud stories. In this first volume, covering 1928-1930, Popeye's initial courtship of Olive Oyl takes center stage while Olive's brother Castor Oyl discovers the mysterious Whiffle Hen. Also, the entire cast meets the Sea Hag for the first time in their pursuit of the "Mystery House" (Popeye's first extended daily narrative), and Castor Oyl attempts to turn Popeye into a boxing champion in a series of hilarious Sunday strips. These strips are masterpieces of comic invention. Popeye's omnipotence pre-figures the rise of superheroes in the 1930s and 1940s, though Popeye is a much more sympathetic character, and his very name announces his vibrant personality."--Publisher's website.

 

 

Accessibility