“Amelia Rules, Cerebus Governs (reconsiders?)” (August 12, 2011)
by Jimmy Gownley (1972-) and Dave Sim (1956-)
11 x 17 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Gownley is a comic book writer/artist best known for his award winning comic book “Amelia Rules!”

Dave Sim is the writer/artist known for “Cerebus,” the stupendous 300-issue graphic novel, produced and self-published by Sim over a 25 year period.

In 2011, during the run of the YouTube series “CerebusTV,” Gowley and Sim collaborated on a jam piece that was to be auctioned. As it turns out, Gownley is the one who picked up the piece rather than having it go to auction, the value of it having been set (as Jimmy recalls it) by the person who ran CerebusTV. From the episode summaries:

June 17, 2011 (S02E34): Jimmy Gownley’s half of the Cerebus/Amelia Rules! jam piece, Sim compares Jimmy’s roughed-in Cerebus dialogue to his own

August 12, 2011 (S02E40): “Amelia Rules, Cerebus Governs (reconsiders?)” jam print completion announcement

And here it is. A copy of the proof print that it produced in advance of the S/N editions is included as an additional image.

“Pogo” (May 18, 1955)
by Walter Crawford “Walt” Kelly, Jr (1913-1973)
6.75 x 20 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. In 1941, at the age of 28, Kelly transferred to work at Dell Comics, where he created Pogo, which eventually became his platform for political and philosophical commentary.

Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro were both communist leaders during the Cold War. Occasionally, they would take trips to America to extol Communism’s virtues. Some thought that their appearance in Pogo would provoke conflict.

Kelly satirized these trips three times in Pogo. The first time, a pig who bore a resemblance to Khrushchev and a parrot who said “you said it” whenever the pig said something. The second time, the pig came with a goat who was a parody of Fidel Castro. Castro had recently taken power in Cuba in the late 1950s and early ’60s when these strips were written. Many newspapers thought this was going to provoke nuclear war with Russia, and some papers dropped the strip.  Ironically, this strip is from just months before the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Embassy complained. The Post Hall Syndicate did not drop the strip, and Kelly continued the satire until it was played out.

Kelly also poked fun of the practice popularized by US supermarket chain Sperry & Hutchinson (“S&H”) of giving out bonus stamps with each purchase. These green stamps could later be traded for household goods of all kind, giving customers the (false) idea of getting something for nothing, while at the same time making them spend more.

Kelly’s “Puce Stamps” were an obvious scam, promoted by Mr. Pig (the barely disguised caricature of Nikita Kruschev) and aimed at abusing the naivity of the denizens of the Okefenokee Swamp.

In real life, a set of nine Puce Stamps, featuring the main characters of the Pogo strip, was created in 1963, and included by publishers Simon & Schuster with the first edition of the Pogo compilation, “The Puce Stamp Catalog.” I have two sets.

“Pogo” (May 24, 1962)
by Walter Crawford “Walt” Kelly, Jr (1913-1973)
6.75 x 20 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. In 1941, at the age of 28, Kelly transferred to work at Dell Comics, where he created Pogo, which eventually became his platform for political and philosophical commentary.

Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro were both communist leaders during the Cold War. Occasionally, they would take trips to America to extol Communism’s virtues. Some thought that their appearance in Pogo would provoke conflict.

Kelly satirized these trips three times in Pogo. The first time, a pig who bore a resemblance to Khrushchev and a parrot who said “you said it” whenever the pig said something. The second time, the pig came with a goat who was a parody of Fidel Castro. Castro had recently taken power in Cuba in the late 1950s and early ’60s when these strips were written. Many newspapers thought this was going to provoke nuclear war with Russia, and some papers dropped the strip.  Ironically, this strip is from just months before the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Embassy complained. The Post Hall Syndicate did not drop the strip, and Kelly continued the satire until it was played out.

Kelly also poked fun of the practice popularized by US supermarket chain Sperry & Hutchinson (“S&H”) of giving out bonus stamps with each purchase. These green stamps could later be traded for household goods of all kind, giving customers the (false) idea of getting something for nothing, while at the same time making them spend more.

Kelly’s “Puce Stamps” were an obvious scam, promoted by Mr. Pig (the barely disguised caricature of Nikita Kruschev) and aimed at abusing the naivity of the denizens of the Okefenokee Swamp.

In real life, a set of nine Puce Stamps, featuring the main characters of the Pogo strip, was created in 1963, and included by publishers Simon & Schuster with the first edition of the Pogo compilation, “The Puce Stamp Catalog.” I have two sets.

“Pogo” (August 11, 1962)
by Walter Crawford “Walt” Kelly, Jr (1913-1973)
6.75 x 20 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. In 1941, at the age of 28, Kelly transferred to work at Dell Comics, where he created Pogo, which eventually became his platform for political and philosophical commentary.

Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro were both communist leaders during the Cold War. Occasionally, they would take trips to America to extol Communism’s virtues. Some thought that their appearance in Pogo would provoke conflict.

Kelly satirized these trips three times in Pogo. The first time, a pig who bore a resemblance to Khrushchev and a parrot who said “you said it” whenever the pig said something. The second time, the pig came with a goat who was a parody of Fidel Castro. Castro had recently taken power in Cuba in the late 1950s and early ’60s when these strips were written. Many newspapers thought this was going to provoke nuclear war with Russia, and some papers dropped the strip.  Ironically, this strip is from just months before the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Embassy complained. The Post Hall Syndicate did not drop the strip, and Kelly continued the satire until it was played out.

Kelly also poked fun of the practice popularized by US supermarket chain Sperry & Hutchinson (“S&H”) of giving out bonus stamps with each purchase. These green stamps could later be traded for household goods of all kind, giving customers the (false) idea of getting something for nothing, while at the same time making them spend more.

Kelly’s “Puce Stamps” were an obvious scam, promoted by Mr. Pig (the barely disguised caricature of Nikita Kruschev) and aimed at abusing the naivity of the denizens of the Okefenokee Swamp.

In real life, a set of nine Puce Stamps, featuring the main characters of the Pogo strip, was created in 1963, and included by publishers Simon & Schuster with the first edition of the Pogo compilation, “The Puce Stamp Catalog.” I have two sets.