I know that he’s not the only artist that’s drawn the pipe in a somewhat implausible location relative to Popeye’s mouth but compared to some of the older examples this just seems especially distracting. Usually there’s at least a hint that maybe the far corner of the mouth is hidden by the nose, but in this case there’s zero doubt: the pipe is clearly coming out of his cheek. And I just can’t get over it.
Older images for reference:
That animation test just did away with the pipe entirely. That’s a little bit sad (it was often used for visual gags) but also totally understandable in a time when any depiction of smoking leads to a parental warning. And it doesn’t take too long to get used to a pipeless Popeye.
