Joe in the Comics

When a catlike creature named Simple J. Malarkey first entered the swampy world of Pogo, readers of Walt Kelly's comic strip noticed that he bore a marked resemblance to Joseph R. McCarthy of Washington. D.C. Any doubts they might have had as to Malarkey's true identity vanished a fortnight ago with the introduction of another Pogo character, an Indian named Charlie, who was pictured kicking an acquaintance below the belt.*

Last week, after a look at advance proofs of the Pogo strip, editors of the strongly anti-McCarthy Providence Journal decided that Cartoonist Kelly had gone too far. Said Managing Editor Michael J. Ogden: "Kelly may be heading into deep waters . . . We still intend to express our views on the editorial page, but we vastly prefer to keep those views on that page . . . We shall drop Pogo on any days when his McCarthy cast appears."

Walt Kelly seemed undisturbed about getting in over his political head. Said he: "I have been submerged for 41 years. After all, I'm a swamp character, and swamp waters run deep."

* Joe McCarthy learned his politics, according to Assistant Defense Secretary Struve Hensel (TIME, June 28), from an Indian named Charlie, who told McCarthy: Kick an opponent below the belt until there's no fight left in him.

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