NEW YORK (CNN) -- Popeye the sailor is finally dropping the anchor on his lifetime love Olive Oyl.

Ocean Comics, based in Rhode Island, is planning a special edition comic book due out next month in which the couple finally marries after a 70-year courtship.

The comic book will have a limited circulation, as will their marital bliss. Popeye and Olive have been an "item" since 1929 when they first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

Popeye's fans, however, can expect to find the sailor man still leading the bachelor life in future publications and productions by other licensees.

A spokeswoman for King Features Syndicate, which licenses the character, says Popeye will remain single in comic strips sold nationwide and in animated series.

"It's just a dream," said the spokeswoman, who refused to be identified. "In real life we would not let this happen."

The competition between Popeye and the villainous Bluto for Olive's attention is an important plot ingredient in the long-running cartoon.

The special edition comic will retail for $2.75. King Features currently distributes the Popeye comic strip in about a half-dozen newspapers nationwide and in cartoons on television and elsewhere.