In what year did Popeye the Sailor Man first appear in print?

Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar. The character first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929, and Popeye became the strip's title in later years. The Victoria (Texas) Advocate is credited as the first newspaper in the nation to run Segar's comic strip which starred the spinach-eating hero.

With his gal pal Olive Oyl, his oversized bullying antagonist Bluto (sometimes called Brutus), his hamburger-loving friend J. Wellington Wimpey, Popeye has starred in many comic strips, comic books, and movies and TV. Robin Williams portrayed him in the 1980 movie, 'Popeye', with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, Paul L. Smith as Bluto, and Paul Dooley as Wimpey.

Segar himself called the Victoria Advocate Popeye's "hometown." In gratitude he contributed a special cartoon for the Advocate's historic 1934 anniversary issue. Speaking to the newspaper's editor through Popeye, Segar wrote, "Please assept me hearties bes' wishes an' felitcitations on account of yer paper's 88th Anniversity....Victoria is me ol' home town on account of tha's where I got born'd at."

Crystal City, Texas, also claims a special relationship to Popeye. The spinach industry credited Popeye and Segar with the 33 percent increase in spinach consumption from 1931 to 1936, and in 1937 Crystal City, the "Spinach Capital of the World," erected a statue to honor Segar and his sailor.