Beetle Bailey: Try counting sheep.

This is not how you draw a sheep.

This is, in fact, so not how you draw a sheep that I had to come out of semi-comics-blogging-retirement to tell you about it.

Cow and Boy: Happy Anniversary!

I've mentioned before that I really like seeing older incarnations of a comic juxtaposed against the current incarnation. All the better when the cartoonist manages to do it in a funny way.

Mark Trail: Oh, I forgot to tell you ... Cherry called while you were in the shower!

Mark Trail consistently provides the finest facial expressions in the comics section. Mark's panicked face in the third panel here, for example, really is just glorious.

Beetle Bailey: Maybe you don't know what sexual harassment IS, sir.

Lately, Beetle Bailey has been running through a set of old cartoons in celebration of either its 60th anniversary or getting picked for a stamp. I'm not quite sure which. But regardless of why it's happening, I always appreciate seeing older incarnations of a comic strip and observing how it has changed over the years.

This particular comic is from 1986, which is around the time that Mort Walker Inc. started taking complaints that its strip was a bit on the sexist side seriously. The strip dramatizes the transition nicely by coupling didactic, feminist dialog with amazing, gravity-defying tits.

Mark Trail: WHAT?

Five hundred dollars is a pretty darn good reward for a yellow Dalmatian puppy, but Greedy McMustache here is having none of it. Cherry is either shocked or on the verge of tears. It's hard to tell which.

Drabble: Dad, what would a cartoonist DO if he lost his glasses?

I am rather amused by today's Drabble. This has never happened before. I'm not entirely sure what to do.

Sally Forth: And what are those?

I've mentioned before that the fellow who draws Sally Forth is a relative genius for his decision to solve the foot-drawing problem by always dressing his characters' feet in socks. The person who colors Sally Forth apparently hasn't caught on however, leading to a situation in which the cartoonist's genius is more or less nullified, as a normal comics reader who doesn't pay close attention to these things* would simply see Hillary's feet in the first panel as yet another foot-drawing abortion.

*read: virtually anyone who is not me.

Mark Trail: Hey, Mildred, take a look at this.

On the one hand, this fellow's dialog suggests that he will continue on his path of evil. On the other hand, the way he shaved off his facial hair right in the middle of this conversation provides what is surely an even stronger indicator that he is already in the process of turning his evil, animal-hating life around.

Luann: Well, Pud, I've got absolutely nothing to do.

I actually find it kind of endearing that though the drawing of all the other characters has changed a great deal and become much more refined, the dog in Luann remains this ridiculous, cartoony-looking thing. And Pud is pretty good name for a cartoon dog, too.

Get Fuzzy: Stop! I'll kill you!

Bucky wearing a onesie wins the day.

Beetle Bailey: Otto, you're supposed to be man's best friend.

Possible reasons for Sarge's self-loathing:

1. He's a repressed, closeted gay man.
2. He has been beaten down by years of cruel mockery.
3. He has a sneaking suspicion that his best friend actually hates him.
4. He is ashamed of his hideous, hideous feet.
   

Red and Rover: I'll never forget the day I brought you home.

I like seeing stuff like this, older incarnations of a comic strip set against newer incarnations. The drawing generally remains distinctly that of the cartoonist, but as time goes by it tends to become more refined. And we can see that in this Red and Rover. Of course, sometimes it goes the other way, as with Schultz as he got older.

Curtis: I just bought this matching blouse and flip-flop ensemble!

This is a particularly clever way of solving the ever-present foot problem. If your characters are supposed to have ugly feet, it completely frees you from having to draw non-ugly feet. Agnes called attention to this just a little while ago. Curtis takes it a step further here by crafting an entire storyline around it.

The only odd thing about it is that Ray Billingsly actually draws pretty decent looking feet, so it's not so much a way to cover up an artistic deficiency as just an idea he had for a story. But hopefully some other cartoonists *cough*MortWalkerInc.*cough* will take note and borrow liberally.

Mark Trail: Is Sassy alive?

Here we see Rusty, who had literally worried himself to death and fallen into a state of decay, arise as a horribly disfigured zombie at the news that Sassy may still be among the living. Of course, he's only interested in her brains at this point.

Cul de Sac: Hey! The kid on the Blisshaven sign is that kid who's on TV!

For all the comics around that feature children, Cul de Sac is the only one that really gets what kids are like. This is just exactly how kids act. Every panel and every character, even the silent girl in the fourth panel whose emotions are conveyed entirely through the art, rings true to life. I'm especially fond of the wild overreaction at the end, which isn't anything like a traditional punchline, but is nonetheless far funnier than every other final panel I've seen today.

Tiger: I can't tell.

The guy who draws Sally Forth has solved the problem of feet by almost always drawing his characters wearing socks. This fellow is apparently a genius, as no other cartoonist has, as of yet, considered such an option, even in cases (see above) in which they really, really should.

Mark Trail: The little dog, anxious to return home, jumps off the table and runs toward the door.

Should we really be surprised that animals are smarter than humans in the Elrodverse?

In all seriousness, though, Sassy's shifty eyes in the second panel are fantastic.

Crock: The plumber finally fixed my dripping faucet.

Given how much time it must have taken to come up with a joke this original,* we should probably just cut the cartoonist a bit of slack on the boring drawing. It's not like comics is a visual medium or anything.

*I'd say at least five minutes.

Prickly City: It's the new paradigm, Carmen.

Is it wrong that I like the drawing in all the subsequent panels better than the regular drawing in the first?

Beetle Bailey: Aren't the stars beautiful tonight?

I don't think I've ever seen Beetle Bailey go in for such joke-free sentimentality before. We get this sort of thing in sister comic Hi and Lois from time to time, so maybe Mort Walker Inc. just made a mistake and this strip was supposed to feature Trixie and Dawg. In any event, I'm oddly fond of it, even if the artwork can't really match the sentiment.