May 19th, 2018

Timeline – 1996 Part 2

by Mort Walker

Beetle Bailey Sunday page color proof, May 19, 1996.

Miss Buxley was first introduced in the strip on November 17, 1971 as a temporary replacement for Miss Blips.

Beetle Bailey daily strip, November 17, 1971.

Since then, the two secretaries have become close friends and co-conspirators in General Halftrack’s office.  They have very different personalities, but both frequently complain about their boss.  Blips, who is not quite as attractive as Miss Buxley, likes to hear about her romantic adventures.  She also complains that she does more than her share of the work.

When Miss Buxley was hired, Miss Blips had been around for almost a decade.  This is one of the earliest strips in which she is identified by name.

Beetle Bailey daily strip, September 7, 1962.

Around 1962, Mort Walker drew model sheets of all of his characters.  This is what Miss Blips looked like then.

The Sunday page above ran 34 years later.  Miss Blips hadn’t changed that much but the technology in the office certainly had.  Blips referred to faxes and e-mails but complained that she still had to make copies of everything.  The strip ended with a bathroom gag.

Next week check back here for another classic episode from 1996.

– Brian Walker