There is plenty of exotic adventure and action in this collection of the famous Thimble Theater Starring Popeye comic strip by E.C. Segar. The title of the collection says it all, announcing that Poeye and friends are headed to Plunder Island. Plunder Island is the dangerous and mysterious lair of the Sea Hag who had battled Popeye some years before. But now in partnership with his old mate Bill Barnacle, Popeye is scheming to sail to Plunder Island and take the treasure they find there despite the dangers of crossing the Sea Hag. Those dangers appear quickly with the appearance of The Goon.
It's exciting stuff and for once it's happening in the Sunday color sections and not the dailies. Plunder Island stands out for this reason, a right proper adventure in full color for many months. They dod get to Plunder Island with much derring-do and other kinds of shenanigans as well. Along with Popeye on the voyage are Roundhouse and Geezil along with Wimpy as well. Both of the former want to kill the latter and that makes for many gag along the way.
Other characters come and go and at long last of course they find the island and everyone gets rich. That doesn't last long as Popeye gives all of his booty as charity to help widows and orphans. Wimpy loses his in a gambling gambit in which he bets against Popeye. The strip devolves a bit once again after the adventure as Wimpy again begins to dominate the proceedings with his endless attempts to wheedle a free meal, preferably a hamburger from Roundhouse.
On the bottom of the Popeye Sunday pages is Sappo and he and his permanent boarder O.G. Wotasnozzle have some screamingly funny antics as Wotasnozzle invents invisibility rays, a device to make Sappo shrink to microscopic size, and a gizmo that makes parts of the body grow. Sappo's nose becomes the source of countless jokes as it grows from week to week eventually even breaking the fourth wall as it snaps through the very borders of the strip itself.
In the dailies though the adventure never lets up. Popeye gets it into his head to become a cartoonist and with that notion and Popeye's witless attempts Segar is able to have enormous fun with is own occupation. Then both he and Olive examine being rich as Olive gains money from an inheritance and proceeds to live the life of the upper crust, just as Popeye whom she has rejected for his lowdown ways, hooks up with an heiress by the name of June Vanripple. Her father is the "richest man in the world" and tries to give Popeye a reward when he saves June but Popeye refuses and the two become good mates. For a time it seems Popeye is really in love with June as at the same poor Olive's attempts to get famous as well as rich cause her to spend all her money on a feckless motion picture. She listened to Wimpy and that's never good. She contracts a rare malady which can only be cured with something called the "Unifruit" and which is only found in the dangerous northern regions of Nazila. Popeye of course heads an expedition there with the gang and Vanripple in tow and they find the cure pretty quickly. After more Nazila adventures the gang heads west to help stop some theives from stealing from Vanripple's operations, and in this one Popeye does a fair amount of time disguised as a dame. Castor Oyl returns as successful detective with scores of agents at his command and the solve the problem. Then it's off to the Pool of Youth guarded by the Sister of the Sea Hag and her prehistoric immortal henchman Toar. The battles are furious but Popeye wins the day of course and the abiding friendship of the painfully stupid Toar. The sections end with Popeye building an Ark to find a new continent where he can live as wants and rule the roost. There are antics aplenty as women are forbidden and Olive will not have that as she, Castor board Wimpy's misbegotten boat to follow.
And exciting and densely packed package. The storytelling by Segar is at it's optimum as far as I can tell and he has more ideas than he has time to pursue them. Characters pop up, dominate than disappear and always the rambunctious Popeye is at the center of the action, willing and able to withstand poison darts, bullets and even a broken neck to win the day.
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