Popeye 
Popeye first appeared in Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929, as a minor character. He was initially hired by Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy to crew a ship for a voyage to Dice Island, the location of a casino owned by the crooked gambler Fadewell. Castor intended to break the bank at the casino using the unbeatable good luck conferred by stroking the head feathers of Bernice the Whiffle Hen. Weeks later, on the trip back, Popeye was shot many times by Jack Snork, an undercover stooge of Fadewell’s, but survived by rubbing Bernice’s head. After the adventure, Popeye left the strip, but, owing to reader reaction, he was brought back after an absence of only five weeks. 
Ultimately, the Popeye character became so popular that he was given a larger role by the following year, and the strip was taken up by many more newspapers as a result. Initial strips presented Olive as being less than impressed with Popeye, but she eventually left Ham to become Popeye’s girlfriend in March 1930, precipitating Ham’s exit as a regular weeks later. Over the years, however, she has often displayed a fickle attitude towards the sailor. Initially, Castor Oyl continued to come up with get-rich-quick schemes and enlisted Popeye in his misadventures. By the end of 1931, however, he settled down as a detective and later on bought a ranch out west. Castor’s appearances have become sparser over time. As Castor faded from the strip, J. Wellington Wimpy, a soft-spoken and eloquent yet cowardly hamburger-loving moocher who would “gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” was introduced into the Sunday strip, in which he became a fixture by late 1932. After first appearing in the daily strip in March 1933, Wimpy became a full-time major character alongside Popeye and Olive.
In July 1933, Popeye received a foundling baby in the mail whom he adopted and named Swee’Pea. Other regular characters introduced into the strip following its retool in 1930 were George W. Geezil, an irascible cobbler who spoke in a heavily affected accent and habitually attempted to murder or wish death upon Wimpy; Rough-House, the temperamental owner of a budget diner who served as a long-suffering foil to Wimpy; Eugene the Jeep, a yellow, vaguely doglike animal from Africa with magical powers; the Sea Hag, a terrible pirate and the last witch on Earth; Alice the Goon, a monstrous creature who entered the strip as the Sea Hag’s henchwoman and continued as Swee’Pea’s babysitter; the hapless, perpetually anxious King Blozo; Blozo’s unintelligent lackey Oscar; Popeye’s lecherous, superannuated father Poopdeck Pappy; and Toar, an ageless, dim-witted caveman.
Segar’s strip was quite different from the theatrical cartoons that followed. The stories were more complex (often spanning months or even years), with a heavier emphasis on verbal comedy and many characters that never appeared in the cartoons (among them King Blozo, Toar, and Rough- House). Spinach usage, a trait introduced in July 1931, was comparatively infrequent, and Bluto appeared in only one story arc. Segar signed some of his early Popeye comic strips with a cigar, his last name being a homophone of “cigar” (pronounced SEE-gar). Comics historian Brian Walker stated: “Segar offered up a masterful blend of comedy, fantasy, satire and suspense in Thimble Theater Starring Popeye”.
Popeye’s story and characterization vary depending on the medium. In his debut storyline, Popeye’s superhumanly proportioned strength and endurance stemmed from the “luck” he acquired by rubbing the feathers of the head of Bernice, a “whiffle hen”, thus enabling him to survive fifteen gunshot wounds. By the end of 1929, however, Popeye’s strength had become a regularized fixture of his character, with spinach, by 1932, becoming the primary repository of his prowess. Swee’Pea is Popeye’s ward in the comic strips, but his custody is inconsistent in cartoons.
There is no absolute sense of continuity in the stories, although certain plot and presentation elements remain mostly constant, including purposeful contradictions in Popeye’s capabilities. Popeye seems bereft of manners and uneducated, yet he often comes up with solutions to problems that seem insurmountable to the police or the scientific community. He has displayed Sherlock Holmes-like investigative prowess, scientific ingenuity, and successful diplomatic arguments.
In the animated cartoons his pipe also proves to be highly versatile. Among other things, it has served as a cutting torch, jet engine, propeller, periscope, musical instrument, and a whistle with which he produces his trademark toot. He also eats spinach through his pipe, sometimes sucking in the can along with the contents. Since the 1970s, Popeye is seldom depicted using his pipe to smoke tobacco.
Popeye’s exploits are also enhanced by a few recurring plot elements. One is the love triangle among Popeye, Olive, and Bluto (sometimes called Brutus), and Bluto’s endless machinations to claim Olive at Popeye’s expense. Another is his near-saintly perseverance in overcoming any obstacle to please Olive, who often (if temporarily) renounces Popeye for Bluto.
Owing to Popeye’s increasingly high profile, Thimble Theatre became one of King Features’ most popular strips during the 1930s. A poll of adult comic strip readers in the April 1937 issue of Fortune magazine voted Popeye their second-favorite comic strip (after Little Orphan Annie). By 1938, Thimble Theatre was running in 500 newspapers, and over 600 licensed “Popeye” products were on sale. The success of the strip meant Segar was earning $100,000 a year at the time of his death. The strip continued after Segar’s death in 1938 under a succession of artists and writers. Following an eventual name change to Popeye in the 1970s.
