The Little Rascals as written and drawn by "Pogo"'s Walt Kelly Of the handful of comics' bona fide geniuses, few could match the versatility of Walt Kelly. Trained as an animator at Walt Disney Studios (he worked on cartoon shorts and "Pinocchio, Fantasia," and "Dumbo"), Kelly left during a labor dispute in 1941. He immediately began a new career in the burgeoning field of comic books, contributing heavily to various Disney titles for Dell and single-handedly producing its classic fantasy books, "Fairy Tale Parade, Mother Goose," and "Santa Claus Funnies," Along with fellow Disney alumnus Carl Banks, Kelly is now considered one of the two classic "funny animal" artists from the golden age of comics. Surprisingly, Kelly's longest-running continuing series was based on actual people--the "real-life" characters of MGM's durable short-film series, "Our Gang" (a.k.a. "The Little Rascals"). Spirited and engaging, Kelly's "Our Gang" harks back to the days before television, when kids spent most of their time playing outdoors, limited only by each other's imagination and ingenuity. Kelly created nearly 100 "Our Gang" stories by the end of its 59-issue run in 1949, the year he quit comic books to switch careers a final time--as creator of the immortal syndicated newspaper strip, "Pogo," In "Our Gang"'s third volume, Kelly begins to hit his stride by relying more on original ideas than following trite MGM scripts which had lacked in charm since the departure of producer Hal Roach in 1938. Keeping alive the wit that had been absent from the film series, this volume contains eight adventures of the mainstay offbeat personas as well as other whimsical characters, from mad scientists toeccentric animals. Suitable for adults and children alike, Fantagraphics Books has lovingly restored the work from the original comic books, giving Kelly's art a renewed four-color splendor.