Skip to commentsPublished: <a href="https://comicvibe.com/the-best-lgbtq-movies-tv-shows-coming-to-streaming-november-2026/” title=”The best LGBTQ+ movies & TV shows coming to streaming November 2026″>November 2, 2026Updated: November 2, 20261 minute1 comment
Popeye along with Olive Oyl and Swee’Pea will appear as inflatables in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after an absence of 58 and 40 years respectably, but not as giant overhead floating balloons. Mercedes Milligan of Animation Magazine tells us:
“E. C. Segar’s beloved sailor man will return to the parade as an inflatable for the first time in almost 60 years, and will appear with Olive Oyl and Swee’Pea on the new Macy’s All Stars float alongside other classic cartoons who have played a role in the parade’s history.”
Despite the flood of news items touting Olive’s 1982 appearance as the first female balloonMacy’s demurs:
“It is a common misconception that Olive Oyl was the first-ever female balloon created for the procession; unbeknownst to many, this title belongs to the Humming Bird balloon that debuted in the 1928 Parade.”
“To mark the occasion, King Features and Popeye comic strip writer Randy Milholland are celebrating the characters’ return with a series of original gags about their road to the parade that will play out in the newspaper strip over the four Sundays in November leading up to Thanksgiving Day. The first strip ran on ComicsKingdom and in newspapers yesterday.”
Randy Milholland is running two stories in the November Sunday Popeye comic strips. The top (drop) tier is telling of Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Swee’Pea traveling to New York City for the Macy’s while the bottom two tiers is telling the story of Papa Katzenjammer being reunited with Mama Katzanjammer and The Kids.
The Macy’s Parade Wiki provides a gallery of Popeye balloons from which we snagged our feature image.
