Walt Kelly

Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. was born on August 25, 1913, and would go on to become one of American comics' most distinctive voices, remembered above all for his long-running newspaper strip Pogo. He died on October 18, 1973.

Kelly came to cartooning through animation, joining Walt Disney Productions in 1936, where he contributed to landmark productions including Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. By 1941 he had shifted direction, moving to Dell Comics at age 28, where his work spanned an impressive range of titles — among them Walt Disney's Comics, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Four Color, and The Adventures of Peter Wheat — taking on roles as artist, inker, letterer, and writer across hundreds of issues.

It was Pogo, however, that defined his career. Set in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp and populated by a cast of richly drawn animal characters, the strip earned a devoted readership not just for its warmth and wit but for Kelly's willingness to use it as a vehicle for pointed political and philosophical commentary. His fluid draftsmanship and layered storytelling set a high standard for the form.

Kelly's work across more than three decades left a lasting imprint on both newspaper comics and the broader tradition of American cartooning, demonstrating that the funny pages could carry genuine satirical and humanistic weight.