Eye Lie Popeye #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeEye Lie Popeye #5 (July 2025, Massive Publishing) is the concluding chapter of the first manga-inspired Popeye miniseries in the character's nearly century-long publishing history, making it the issue in which the overarching mystery of how Popeye lost his eye — a question that had gone unanswered since E.C. Segar's 1929 debut — is finally resolved in official licensed canon. By bringing that resolution through a distinctly manga-inflected visual grammar drawn from the tradition of titles like One Piece and Dragon Ball, the series stakes out new storytelling territory for a classic American character, demonstrating that the sailor's mythological core is elastic enough to absorb genre influences far outside his newspaper-strip origins. As the finale of a miniseries that was launched as part of Free Comic Book Day 2024 and produced under a partnership between Massive Publishing and King Features Syndicate, this issue also signals a broader institutional push to introduce Popeye's universe to a younger, manga-literate readership.
"Eye Lie Popeye: Book Five" delivers a wild, dimension-hopping escalation in Marcus Williams’ bold reimagining of the classic crew. With Popeye, Olive, Bluto, and the Sea Hag teaming up to rescue Swee'pea from Executor and a shadowy figure from their shared past, the stakes feel higher than ever—especially as the Sea Hag activates the Crown of Reversal and secrets begin to surface. Marcus Williams handles every aspect of the interior art and inks, with his own cover pencils and inks adding to the surreal, high-stakes energy of this 2025 release.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Eye Lie Popeye project originated when Massive Publishing's President/Co-Publisher Kevin Roditeli encountered in-progress artwork that creator Marcus Williams was sharing with King Features Syndicate online; Roditeli's enthusiasm led to a formal publishing partnership between Massive and King Features to bring the miniseries to print. The series was formally introduced to the public via a 24-page Free Comic Book Day 2024 preview edition distributed across more than 2,000 participating shops, building retailer and fan awareness well ahead of the August 2024 debut of the oversized 40-page Issue #1. Williams — a creator with credits at Marvel, DC, Image, and BOOM! Studios — served as sole writer and artist on Issue #5, with Rodney Velchez contributing interior art on at least some variant editions, a collaboration pattern consistent with earlier issues in the run.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Eye Lie Popeye is a five-issue miniseries (of 5), published by Massive Publishing under license from King Features Syndicate, the owner of the Popeye intellectual property.
- Issue #5 is the series finale, released July 16, 2025, and serves as the culmination of the storyline that began with the Free Comic Book Day 2024 preview edition in May 2024.
- The entire miniseries is written and drawn by Marcus Williams, a creator with prior credits at Marvel Comics (Captain America), DC Comics, Image Comics, and BOOM! Studios.
- The series' central narrative conceit — providing the first official explanation of how Popeye lost his eye, a mystery left unaddressed since the character's 1929 debut in the 'Thimble Theatre' comic strip — is resolved in this concluding issue.
- Issue #5's plot centers on Popeye's final confrontation with the antagonist called the Source Being, while a secondary crisis sees Swee'Pea kidnapped by a bounty hunter, forcing the ensemble 'Team Popeye' to act on multiple fronts simultaneously.
- Interior art credits for Issue #5 list both Marcus Williams and Rodney Velchez, with variant covers supplied by additional artists including Michael Calero and Andrew Tarusov.
- The series consciously draws its visual language from top-selling manga titles such as One Piece and Dragon Ball, positioning it as a deliberate crossover bid for manga-format readers alongside traditional pamphlet-format comic buyers.
- Concurrent with the comic series, a separate live-action Popeye feature film was announced in partnership with Chernin Entertainment, with screenwriter Michael Caleo (The Sopranos) attached — placing the Eye Lie Popeye miniseries within a larger moment of franchise revival activity.
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