My Quest For POPEYE

If any of you reading this know me, you know I am a life-long, hardcore Groo fan and Popeye fan. I've been drawing them since I was 7 years old. I read their books, collect what I can afford of their merchandise, etc. My lifelong dream (and I do have a few of those) is to professionally draw Groo and/or Popeye. Since Groo's creator Sergio Aragones and his cohort Mark Evanier have both voiced that if Sergio doesn't draw Groo, NOBODY does, I will never have the chance at the mendicant barbarian. But Popeye the Sailor has been published in recent years, beginning a regular new comic book series that unfortunately ended by its 12th issue, and then "Comic Classics" stories. These books are reprints of Bud Sagendorf's run on Popeye comics in the 50s on. Ok, so I can't draw a regular series. I tried and was not accepted. Well, the "Comic Classics" have variant covers to the issues, and have used artwork of professional cartoonists and fan art. FANTASTIC!!! I was sending samples and submissions since just before the new series began (I think it was 2011 or 2012) up until as recently as June. Nothing. I've been drawing Popeye since I remember drawing! I have studied him, the various E.C Segar creations as well as Sagendorf characters, and thought I represented the character well. That's what was looked for in the series, but I don't recall if I sent sequential art or not (sequential art is artwork that tells a story panel-to-panel or step by step, like a storyboard for a movie. THAT'S one of the biggest things editors and publishers look for in artists, not just art quality). But the variant covers wouldn't require sequential art! I love the character and try my best to show that through my illustrations. I don't want to veer from the classic style. Why mess with perfection (not my drawing of Popeye, the perfection that is Segar's characters)? Then I start to see the variants coming in for "Comic Classics" and they are WILD, abstract takes on Popeye. I find that I cannot do what they're looking for. I am not abstract. Don't get me wrong; I'm not bad-mouthing the covers that grace the covers. It's that they were NOT what I expected to see. The styles are beyond my wheel-house. I don't want to alter my vision of Popeye. I even TRIED to make some "wackier" styles, but they also were not accepted. I also can't get feedback. WHY am I not good enough? I've dreamed my entire life to draw for POPEYE, and when I was hipped to the news that the publisher was going to start a new POPEYE comic and they were looking for artists, I thought I'd be a shoe-in.
 You tell me, and I'm not looking to boost my ego, but what do you think? What is wrong with how I draw Popeye?

STRONG TO THE FINICH...

The images here are sketches of my comic version of my OTHER lifelong favorite character and inspiration since the age of 6, Popeye the Sailor. I was 3 years old when the Robin Williams movie came out in 1980 and I watch it ANY chance I get!! It still stands as one of my all time favorite flicks!!
Popeye was created by E.C. Segar in 1929 as a bit character in his hit comic strip "Thimble Theater" starring Olive Oyl and her brother Castor since 1923. He stayed on for a couple weeks, and Segar started getting letters from readers that they liked the one-eyed sailor and he kept Popeye in the storylines, eventually changing the name to "Thimble Theater featuring Popeye".
By 1940, E.C. Segar had passed, and Popeye was introduced to a wider scale audience through Fleischer Studios and later Famous Studios in animated features. He was drawn by various artists, but former Segar assistant Bud Sagendorff took over most of the illustrating for the strips, merchandising and anything related to Popeye when he finally became old enough to be hired.
In the 1990s I noticed less and less Popeye. Bud Sagendorff had passed away in the late 1980s (I think 1989) and except for a failed "Popeye and Son" cartoon on Saturday mornings, not alot of public interest surfaced.
In 1999, comic writer Peter David wrote a story for Ocean Comics called "The Wedding of Popeye and Olive Oyl", which made national news.
In 2004, Popeye fans celebrated the 75th anniversary of his appearance in "Thimble Theater". The Empire State building was lit up green in honor of the sailor's eventual source of strength- spinach.
I say eventual because EC Segar did not create the greanleafed vegetable as Popeye's sourse of strength. It was written that a little whiffle hen named Bernice was a wish-giving ol' bird, and Popeye had rubbed her head and wished to be invulnerable (basically). He had been shot over 15 times by a pirate, only to survive. He was already superhumanly strong, and now he was tough to kill. It wasn't until 1934 that Fleischer Studios gave Popeye a can of spinach as a way to overcome his opposition, be it a goon or Bluto (Brutus in the strip, who was also only a bit character. The cartoon made him Bluto and Popeye's constant nemesis. He eventually became more involved in the strip as well). Popeye's use of spinach caused spinach sales to skyrocket 75% (if I remember correctly. It was alot) internationally.
But I digress.
A CGI movie was released, retelling Popeye's journey to find his dad, Poopdeck Pappy. The name was "Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy", and the voice talents of the original Popeye cartoons, the late Jack Mercer (who did the voice from the original cartoons until his death in the 90s) was replaced by the great Billy West, mumbling the graspy tones of both Popeye and Pappy. Unfortunately, the movie fell under most of the public's radar. It was, in my opinion, a fine cartoon and I hope they continue to do more.
In 2007 and 2008 King Features, who owns the rights to all things Popeye, released the black and white Fleischer Studios episodes on DVD in two volumes, bringing at least a little recognition back to one of the true American icons.
I drew these because I feel that Popeye should return, not as more of a "badass", just more like how Segar had written him, with a comic book style. I would love to do a book of Popeye, just a little grittier than, say, the Robin Williams classic.
I must mention that that movie showed a great deal of Segar's original characters and brought together some of his storylines from the strip, including finding Pappy, meeting Olive, and even the boxing match with Oxblood Oxheart! With the exception of the musical interludes, it was a fine homage to the legend of Popeye to me.