He is to Popeye
… what Ming is to Flash Gordon.
… what Bull Dawson is to Captain Easy.
… what Susie is to Calvin.
And though he was well-known to the sailor man,
and had been skulking around the ship for a week,
we first met him 90 years ago today.
The rest of the week:
© King Features Syndicate
The entire sequence, Bluto’s only appearance in creator E.C. Segar’s Popeye run,
is available in Fantagraphics wonderful collection of E. C. Segar’s Popeye –
specifically Volume Three “Let’s You And Him Fight.”
I don’t know if it ever ran in Comics Kingdom’s Vintage Thimble Theater.
Of course Bluto would have greater fame in the animated cartoons. For anyone interested in looking at all of the bearded bullies who have bothered Popeye go to The Big Guy That Hates Popeye face book page.