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Thimble Theater, and the character of Popeye, were created by E.C. Segar, but several artists and writers have continued the strip long after Segar's death. Here we have a strip by Tom Sims and Bob Zaboly, featuring the famous glutton J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy was known by those who read the strip and those who watched the cartoons as a man with a bit of a black hole for a stomach, but 5 entire turkeys is even more than I imagined he could handle. The strip seems to indicate that he had appointments to eat all of those dinners, so it's not necessarily his fault entirely. I imagine each of them were just kind enough to invite him over to eat a holiday meal, and Wimpy graciously accepted each invitation. How could he refuse? Obviously there were consequences, but I don't imagine turkey sickness lasts more than a day or two.

A fun side note: While the popular chicken restaurant chain Popeye's was not named after the comic strip sailor man but was instead named after the police detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle from The French Connection, the popular diner restaurant chain Wimpy was actually named after J. Wellington Wimpy, at least according to the official company website.

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The escalation in this Christmas sequence is so great. Every time you think Ignatz has been foiled, he is already way ahead, even though the logic of it is still completely absurd. Given how many times Ignatz has been locked in jail, though, I guess it only stands to reason that if hanging up four stockings is against the law Ignatz would be the first to know, and would be the first to do whatever he could to dodge the law. He wouldn't want Officer Pupp giving him any new Christmas lodgings.

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Today's strip is a continuation of the one from yesterday, and raises an interesting question: How many stockings would you put up if you were a centipede? Further, how many stockings would you need if you were, say, a centipede family of four? Would you have enough space in your home to hang all of them? Do centipedes have chimneys? Does centipede Santa have a beard or just more antennae? So many questions.

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I love this one. The absurdity of Ignatz hanging two stockings because he has two feet is already funny enough for me, but the escalation to four stockings due to having four feet is even better. It's kind of odd as far as cartoon animals go, though. We say four legged animals have four feet because they stand on all four of them, but cartoon animals only stand on two. So, do cartoon animals also have four feet? I'm actually inclined to say they don't.

So sorry, Ignatz, only two stockings for you this year.

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It's Papa Who Pays was the topper to Toots and Casper, both of which were created by Jimmy Murphy. This is a fair representation of the strip as a whole, with Papa always coming out with nothing in the end after his family takes advantage of him somehow. I don't quite understand how the situation in this particular strip happens, though. Why would someone give someone a gift, then take the gift back from them to give to someone else? It's re-gifting of an entirely different sort. I guess it was more common in the 20's.

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I've already gushed about Payne's artwork enough, so for this one I'll just say that I love this joke, or joke within a joke. Willyum "makes a crack" about asking for a goldfish from Santa, which you imagine might actually be true given his age, but the actual punchline is that it's a scheme to get Christmas money. Why people pay him for that I can't imagine. Still, it gets a nickel out of Pop, so that's a success. I just wonder what he's going to buy with it.

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Now, some may see the two middle panels on this strip and call them unnecessary, or call C.M. Payne lazy for including them, and they could possibly be correct. However, I think this is really the way some kids talk to each other, with unnecessary repetitions and continual questions, so it works. Besides, it gives us a chance to see more of Payne's wonderful hatching work.

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S'Matter Pop was a comic created by C. M. Payne, and is probably best known, if it's known at all, as being an early influence on the young Charles Schulz, who would go on to create the comic strip Peanuts. It should not be confused with the similarly titled but completely unrelated strip "Say Pop!" which was also created by Payne a few years later. Those two should also not be confused with the other unrelated strip "Take It Easy, Pop," a strip Payne created a couple decades after those two. All three, as well as the other comic strips he created, are truly a joy to look at because of Payne's dynamic and expressive art style. It's simple and kind of messy, but it's unlike anything else you might see in the newspaper. I love the shape of the word balloons, as well. Instead of just trying to make sure they're out of the way of the rest of the artwork, their shape calls attention to them and integrates them into the artwork more.

In this particular strip, Pop shows us one of the best ways to answer a child's question about Santa Claus: be honest, but use big words the child doesn't know to confuse him and have him assume you're simply confirming what he already thought. Works every time. Probably.

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Mutt and Jeff are always an interesting pair, because there's always a quite perplexing logic to their schemes. While getting a divorce is certainly a way to get out of having to get your wife a Christmas present, it generally comes with a large amount of other problems and costs (believe me, I know). I don't see any way that even a fur coat could cost less than the bill Mutt will receive from Sir Sidney the well-known barrister. I imagine Sir Sidney would have a very nice Christmas, though.

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Bringing Up Father is all about a man who gets rich unexpectedly, and moves into a much larger house than he's used to. I'd imagine that along with that would come more closet space and therefore more options for hiding Christmas presents, but I guess Jiggs and Maggie still went for the same one when deciding where to hide them. Good thing Maggie wrapped hers first.