April 1st, 2018

Timeline – 1974 Part 4

by Mort Walker

Beetle Bailey Sunday page color proof, December 1, 1974.

The evolution of Sarge’s dog Otto has been well documented in previous posts.

To see his first appearance in Beetle Bailey go to:

http://beetlebailey.com/2016/01/22/otto-part-one/

An early strip where he wears a uniform is shown here:

http://beetlebailey.com/2016/01/30/otto-part-two/

A Sunday page from 1959 starring Otto is featured here:

http://beetlebailey.com/2016/02/05/otto-part-three/

His transition from a conventional dog to the way he appears today is documented here:

http://beetlebailey.com/2016/02/12/otto-part-four/

This is the historic strip in which Otto begins wearing a uniform on a regular basis.

Beetle Bailey daily strip, September 16, 1969.

Five years later, the Sunday page above was published. By this time the General has accepted that there is a dog at Camp Swampy who wears a uniform. He demands that Otto show some respect and Otto responds as a dog would. These two have always had an interesting relationship.

Note that Zero’s helmet is the wrong color in panel #2.

Next week we will move on to 1975 in our Timeline series so be sure to return and see another classic example from our archives.

– Brian Walker