A study of Walt Kelly's work focusing on his politics and satire, with a biography and history of "Pogo" in the mix. Some of this is so high-falutin' as to be mind-numbing (and I think Walt Kelly himself would agree with that). But there is a lot of fascinating stuff here for the Kelly and Pogo fan. "Pogo" probably had more of an impact than any other strip on American politics for years, until the youth movements that sprang up in the late '60's seemed to leave Kelly behind.

This is probably the most critical treatment of Kelly I've seen, although he still comes out looking pretty good. I had no idea that Kelly was such a skirt-chaser, particularly on his college campus visits (although not nearly to the extent of "Li'l Abner's" Al Capp, who used to chase the girls with such perseverance it probably would have gotten him arrested today).

Some of this reads like a doctoral dissertation (which it may be), but I was intrigued by most of it, particularly the material about race relations and "Pogo", and the aesthetics of the strip. I wish the illustrations could have been more numerous and less compacted (Kelly's art demands a large space, a point that the author makes himself). But as a whole this book deserves a spot on the bookshelf of any "Pogo" fan. ( )