Just a week after Tintin set out from Brussels on his first adventure in 1929, another cartoon legend was launched upon an unsuspecting world, as Castor Oyl, brother of Olive and star of newspaper comic strip Thimble Theatre, in the company of Ham Gravy, sought the help of a one-eyed sailor to take them, and their magical Whiffle Hen Bernice, to Dice Island, a sailor who would, in time, eclipse them all...
A very happy 90th birthday to Popeye the Sailor Man!
Thimble Theatre debuted on the 19th December 1919, the creation of E. C. "Elzie" Segar, and initially revolved around Olive Oyl and her feckless boyfriend Ham Gravy.
Olive's scheming brother Castor arrived in January 1920, and became central to the strip, with the gormless Ham often playing the role of side-kick in Castor's many unsuccessful get-rich-quick escapades.
However, neither Ham nor Castor brought success to the strip in the way Popeye's arrival in 1929 did.
Although only meant to be a temporary character, public demand brought him back to stay, becoming the centre of the action, the title character in the strip, and the object of Olive's fickle attentions! | 
