Goon Island is shaped like a giant cup (color rerun from 2020)
"Goon Valley! - A Tale of Wildlife Conservation! Save the Goons!" is a Popeye comic strip storyline written by Bud Sagendorf. It ran between November 20, 1972 and March 17, 1973.
Plot[]
Olive Oyl receives a pillow in a package, which is said to be the "the lightest feathery buoyant pillow made." Popeye learns that it is made of Goon fuzz, and she bought it for $1,000 at the poacher's market. This makes Popeye quite irate, as he realizes that poachers are invading Goon Island to clip off the Goons' hair again. As he explains to Swee'Pea, Goons without hair will feel disgraced and bury their heads in tree holes until their hair grows back.
Popeye, Olive, Wimpy and Swee'Pea set sail for Goon Island (blindly; Popeye prefers not to chart its position on a map) to save the Goons from the poachers. The island is shaped like a cup, and its center is where the Goons habitate. Thus, the crew have to climb up a very long cliff to reach the village. On their way up, Swee'Pea disappears, and a group of unknown creatures start throwing giant rocks at them. They manage to get past the trap, and Popeye proceeds to beat up the creatures blindly.
After the trouble, the gang meet up with an anxious Alice the Goon, who soon gets secretly carried away by the mysterious creatures; these creatures have the shape of a wooden stick and wear no clothes. Swee'Pea suddenly emerges from the Goons' village, which is all but emptied out. The Goons are all sobbing with their heads in the tree. Swee'Pea explains that there are a group of "Oids" hunting down the Goons and clipping their hair.
In her search for the Oids, Olive finds herself humiliated by a bunch of Oids when they hide in a pond and drag her into the water when she approaches. When Popeye learns of this, he decides to set up a snare trap by disguising Olive as a Goon to attract the Oids, while Olive is oblivious to the plan and only thinks of this as a game. They successfully lure an Oid and attempt to capture it, but its limbs are almost as flexible as rubber, and even Popeye's powerful punches fail to inflict any harm on this creature. The other Oids learn of the "fight" and arrive to join in, so that they can enjoy being hit by Popeye and bounce all over the place.
In a desperate situation, Wimpy consults a Goon for help, and is delighted to learn that they have a powerful weapon against the undeterred Oids. "The only thing they fear is love... the kiss of a beautiful woman is like poison to them!" Olive is adamantly against giving any kisses to anyone other than Popeye, but she eventually gives in to the sailor's demands. A kiss later, an Oid pops out of existence like a soap bubble.
Soon, they dispose of all Oids and take in the situation. Olive cries that her love has become lethal, and even Popeye's own words of comfort will not help the case, since a freak accident makes it look like Olive's kiss has made him vanish into thin air. In the end, all is well again, with Olive giving the Goons fur coatings on their bare limbs to save them from further humiliation, as well as any potential threats from the Oids.