August 27th, 2018

Timeline – 1999 Part 4

by Mort Walker

Beetle Bailey Sunday page digital proof, October 3, 1999.

Many cartoon characters have signature catch phrases.  Bugs Bunny says “What’s up doc?  Popeye mumbles “Blow me down.”  Charlie Brown moans “Good grief.”  Cathy yells AACK!”

General Halftrack frequently asks, “Now what?” at the end of an episode.  This reflects his total cluelessness.  Although he is in charge of Camp Swampy, he is always the last one to know what’s going on.

In the episode above, the men are purposely trying to confuse him by altering the environment.   There isn’t much explanation about why they are doing this other than to have some fun.

The Sunday page below is a classic example of how the General’s orders get misinterpreted.

Beetle Bailey Sunday page, January 21, 1990.

The last panel could not be published in family newspapers so it was changed to this. The original version was made into a poster.

Stay tooned for more color Sunday pages from our archives.

– Brian Walker