Popeye’s Stalker, the Sea Hag

Everyone knows that Popeye loves Olive Oyl. He’s as faithful to their relationship as he is to his daily dosage of spinach. But did you know that he also has a soft spot for his long-time stalker and principal archenemy (she’s been terrorizing him much longer than Bluto), Sea Hag?

That’s right. The sea maiden has been campaigning to win Popeye’s affections since January 1930. She’s also been trying to kill him for just about as long. Her motivation has always been a bit muddled. Is she motivated by the same creed that most stalkers live by (the “If I can’t have you, no one can!” mantra) or is she just the quintessential comic villainess, with a twist? Only the great Elzie Crisler Segar would know.

But between her penchant for pursuing Popeye (either to date or to decimate) and her later misplaced affection for Popeye’s pal, Wimpy, we guess she was your average lovelorn witch, fearful of becoming a bitter, unwed, well… hag.

Even so, in 1938, after an innumerable amount of botched attempts to vanquish our hulking hero, Sea Hag finds a bizarre place in Popeye’s heart, as he reflects in a comic strip that year, “I yam glad she ain’t dead – even if she is a exter bad woman – hah! If they wasn’t no bad women, maybe we wouldn’t appreciate the good ones. Anyway, she yam what she yam!”