"The Search for Popeye's Poppa" is a Thimble Theatre storyline by E. C. Segar, which ran between August and November 1936, and introduced Popeye's long-lost father, Poopdeck Pappy.
Plot
Continuing from the last storyline, Popeye learns from Eugene the Jeep that his father is confirmed to be still alive. Popeye immediately starts his quest to search for the old man.
A neighboring sailor, Cap'n Keel, gives Popeye his ship, the "Lilly Mae" for free. At first Popeye is suspicious about Cap'n Keel's enthusiasm about giving his beautiful ship away, until after signing the files, Keel casually mentions to him that the ship is haunted; "Big spooks" are aboard. Despite not believing in ghosts, Popeye and Olive Oyl are not pleased with the ship.
The sailing journey begins with Popeye ordering the Jeep to point at whichever direction Popeye's Poppa is at, and the playful antics of Oscar and Toar initially take center stage. Toar keeps being chased around by Oscar, pretending to be afraid. The unwitting Oscar believes he is "naturally awesome", only to find himself unable to lift an anchor or actually confront Toar seriously.
However, when night falls, the "spooks" start to show up; more accurately, a tall, mysterious being, covered with a white sheet with two holes on top. The creature scares a few passengers stiff. When Popeye sees it, it somehow juggles around a bearded human head. Popeye confronts it head-on, even crawling into the white sheet to find what's inside ("They's a thousing hairy arms squeezin' the life outta me!"). The fuss quickly turns into a brutal beatdown. Popeye manages to defeat it, but reveals that he has been fighting a gorilla under the sheet the whole time, and the "ghost" runs away.
The following day, the mysterious "ghost" reveals its true form to the readers while hiding in the forward hold: it is actually Poopdeck Pappy, a man who greatly resembles Popeye, except with a white beard. The "Head" it had is Pooky Jones, whose beard covers his entire body. They plan to skip the ship soon since they are closing in on Barnacle Island, Pappy's home. Meanwhile, Popeye feels that he is being lied to by Eugene, since the Jeep always points to the front wherever the ship is pointed, and he confirms that Popeye's father is aboard, a truth that, sadly, Popeye does not believe in the slightest.
That evening, Olive bumps into Pappy near the hold. Pappy shows his sociopathy by hitting Olive in the face, and when Olive tries to reason with him, he throws her out of the hold. He even takes down a few sailors with ease. Olive and the crew tell the situation to Popeye, and when Popeye finally realizes his own mistakes, Pappy has already escaped on a lifeboat. Popeye is heartbroken by this, but also feels insulted when Olive tells him about Pappy's rudeness and vulgar manners, even to the point of strangling and spanking her to shut her up ("I loves me Poppa an' I'll defend him!").
Popeye meets his father for the first time in years.
The folks disembark at Barnacle Island, which is heavily guarded by deadly creatures working for Pappy. As Popeye and Olive are approached by a giant octupus named "Charlie", Pappy cheerfully anticipates their gruesome death. Popeye gets eaten whole by the octupus, but Olive brings a can of spinach in time to let him smash the octupus into bits. Popeye finally meets up with Pappy, only to be greeted with bitter verbal abuse ("Well, what the @X*! do ye want me to do, KISS YE?") and even a heavy punch.
See Also
- Goonland: Pappy's debut in animation with a similar premise and certain dialogue lifted from this storyline
- Popeye's Pappy
- Popeye (live-action film): Indirect adaptation of the storyline and the previous one
- Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy