What year did Popeye the Sailor debut?

Before he became a cultural icon, Popeye the Sailor was just a minor character who showed up in a comic strip about two characters named Olive Oyl and Harold Hamgravy. His massive forearms and gruff attitude weren't even supposed to stick around. When did this unlikely hero make his first appearance?

Reveal answer and learn more:

▼

The answer is: 1929

On January 17, 1929, Popeye flexed his way into E.C. Segar's "Thimble Theatre" comic strip with the grumbled words "Ja think I'm a cowboy!" The comic had been running since 1919, starring Olive Oyl and her boyfriend Harold Hamgravy (your guess is as good as mine on those names). Popeye was just hired for a quick voyage to Dice Island, but this squinty-eyed sailor had other plans.

After surviving multiple gunshots from a villain named Jack Snork, readers fell hard for this impossibly tough sailor. Letters flooded newspapers demanding more Popeye stories. Poor Ham Gravy vanished from his own comic strip while Popeye took both the spotlight and Olive Oyl.

The Popeye most of us know and love wasn't always such a fan of veggies. He originally got his strength from rubbing the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen, a magical bird who hung around the docks. By 1931, Segar dropped the magical chicken for a can of spinach, and the strip was renamed "Thimble Theatre starring Popeye." Kids across America started copying their new hero, driving spinach sales up 33%. The character became such a sensation that other countries gave him their own names: "Iron Arm" in Italy and "Skipper Skraek" in Denmark.

The Fleischer Studios brought Popeye to animation in 1933, starting with a guest spot in a Betty Boop cartoon. The animated shorts ran for decades, and on his 95th birthday in 2024 he was finally honored with his own national holiday.