E.C. Segar's Popeye comic strips are better than Max Fleischer's Popeye cartoons.

The comic strip you provided is not by E.C. Segar, it's one of the later ones by Hy Eisman after E.C. Segar's death. You can tell it's not genuine by the way there's a TV set, in the thirties, when genuine Popeye comic strips were made, there were no TVs. However, the comic you provided is funny. Much funnier than a bland, stupid Popeye cartoon. And it's not inappropriate. Do you notice how the comic strip has an actual JOKE? Not just sight gags or idiotic dialogue? The comic strip is art. The cartoons are bad art. The Popeye cartoons have plenty of cussing and racism. Popeye sinks a Japanese U-boat, and the Japanese are depicted as sub human, yellow creatures with buck teeth and glasses. That's a real cartoon, you can watch it. It's much more racist than anything Segar could have ever dreamed up. At the end of the episode, "Bride and Gloom," Popeye tells a stupid Confucius joke. That's vulgar. And it was sexist, too. The cartoons are not made for kids, but they're not mature enough for adults. They're aimed at nobody. The comic strip, on the other hand, was aimed at everybody. It dealt with adult topics, like prohibition, farmers' relief, class structure, the depression, and so on. But kids could easily enjoy it without noticing the subtle references placed throughout. Sometimes Segar reprinted some comics that kids had drawn. The comic strip is a genuine masterpiece. It should be placed alongside the other classics. It's better than Bringing up Father, better than Krazy Kat, better than Blondie. It is the best depression era comic strip to ever run. In the cartoons, Olive Oyl is seen as a weakling who can't defend herself, thus keeping in stride with the sexist attitudes of the times. In the comics, she's much more independent, and has a huge ego, sometimes overbearing, which is used as a comedic device throughout. Wimpy, though, is the best part of the comic. He's a lazy fat idiot, and he mooches hamburgers in a million different ways. He's the comic strip version of Charlie Chaplin, I think. They're equals in being funny. Wimpy did not appear in the cartoons. Nor did any of the other good characters. They were completely left behind. Bluto is an idiot. He poses almost no challenge to Popeye. Popeye beats him up, in the cartoons, within a fraction of a second. In Bluto's one comic strip appearance, he was not used as a main character, but as a plot device. Prior to the story with Bluto, we assume that Popeye is immortal, but we learn of Bluto, the ferocious pirate, coming to knock Popeye down, and we learn that Bluto is the ONE man who could beat Popeye. The two fight it out for TEN WHOLE COMIC STRIPS. That's probably the longest action sequence in the whole comic. They go at it until their clothes are ragged, and in the end, Bluto loses. But, unlike the cartoons, Popeye faces an actual threat. He does not simply knock Bluto silly within ten seconds, he faces death. Why Max Fleischer chose to revive Bluto for EVERY episode is beyond me. In the cartoons, the fight between Popeye and Bluto is seen as a kind of fight between good vs. evil. But in any sort of media, the fight between good vs. evil is heavily cliched'. Protagonist must have some flaws, they must be somewhat imperfect. In the comics, Popeye is a human, not a diety. He plays craps and wastes away all his money, Olive yammers at him, he smokes a smelly old pipe, he's a ruffian, but still good natured and he does what he thinks is right. He's much more likable. He does not always go off on a long sea journey, sometimes he just hangs around town and participates in more mundane activities. The Popeye strip is a record of American life, and better than any history book. He also never eats spinach in the comics for strength. He does once, I suppose, to kill an octopus, but that's about it. He is not dependent on spinach, he is independent from spinach. He can fight on his own, he does not eat spinach for strength. He just likes spinach. He eats a lot of it, sure, and sometimes before beating somebody up, but he can function separately from it. In the comics, he's a hollow shell without his spinach. He's not a hero, he's a pathetic coward. He's only strong when he gets his spinach fix. What kind of hero is that? Segar's Popeye doesn't just eat spinach, he recognizes the importance of other food, like milk, meat, and so on. Fleischer's Popeye is an idiot. The Popeye in the cartoons is not the Popeye we see in the comics. The Popeye in the comics has red hair, the Popeye in the cartoons is bald. The Popeye in the comics wears a black, blue, and red shirt, the Popeye in the cartoons wears a clean white shirt. I think Max Fleischer took the Popeye from the comics, made a clone, took the original Popeye's brain out, and put it into the new Popeye, but made the new Popeye a stupid lout who beats up Asian men and tells vulgar jokes. The comics are better than the cartoons. Thank you for debating this with me. Next we'll debate about depressed people. Vote wisely, judges.