An online poll.

[Roger Kettle]

I was directed to a site which includes a poll of the most popular Beau Peep characters. (It's massive--when I looked, 18 people had voted). The top three were...
Egon....28%.
Dennis...22%.
The Nomad...17%.
I found this reasonably interesting.

[indi]

For me its a toss up between Dennis and the Nomad... Although I love the "Honest Abdul" strips, more for the nomads stupidity than anything else though


Total stupidity is by far the funniest. So they both rank right up there.

[Zesty White]

For me, it's hard to top the Nomad. Although I did always like Dirk B Slaughter...I'm led to believe that the B stands for Bloodbath 

[Rob Baker]

For Zesty... (sorry about the quality, but these were printed in Dec'84 and they've faded a bit).....

[Roger Kettle]

There are several things that come to mind when I look at this 25 year-old series....
We used four-frame strips, rather than three, quite a lot in those days.
It was nice to see Beau Peep Christmas cards advertised for sale.
Sometimes, I write a load of crap.
When this was published, the strip had been running for six years and this series looks like a conscious effort on my behalf to introduce a new character. Although Sergeant Slaughter has appeared several times since then, I don't think he has ever really worked. This sequence is, basically, not very good. Or funny.
Ah, well.

[Diane CBPFC]

It depends what mood you are in as to whether Sergeant Slaughter is funny or not. If you have PMS - he's hilarious. 

[The Peepmaster]

It depends what mood you are in as to whether Sergeant Slaughter is funny or not. If you have PMS - he's hilarious. 

How did you know that's the only time Roger finds him funny?

[Diane CBPFC]

Quick Nige - do I have the right "whether" before Mince shows up?

[The Peepmaster]

Quick Nige - do I have the right "whether" before Mince shows up?

Yep - that's a pretty fair "Whether", friend.


Anyway, why are you worrying about Pilchard-Brain? He doesn't seem to be frequenting the corridors of these portals these days. Maybe he's got another bird.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Maybe he's got another bird.

I have this strange sense of deja vu here, but "another"?

[Zesty White]

Cheers for that Rob  I've always found him funny I have to say. I suppose the threats of unnecessary violence make him a bit like Mad Pierre with rank....

[Malc]

The problem with Sergeant Slaughter is that within the pages of a family newspaper you're proscribed from making him appreciably more frightening than Bidet. If he sacrificed babies to Satan, well...that's something Bidet wouldn't have done, at least.

I'm also impressed with your self-assessment of the strips, Roger. It's why you're so good at what you do.

[The Peepmaster]

Quick Nige - do I have the right "whether" before Mince shows up?

I've been reflecting on this since my last reply, trying to come up with a wittier retort.

I actually think it's a decent spell of whether.

[Jack]

Quick Nige - do I have the right "whether" before Mince shows up?

I've been reflecting on this since my last reply, trying to come up with a wittier retort.

I actually think it's a decent spell of whether.

Nice to see you've made good use of the last two and a half years.

There are several things that come to mind when I look at this 25 year-old series....
We used four-frame strips, rather than three, quite a lot in those days.
It was nice to see Beau Peep Christmas cards advertised for sale.
Sometimes, I write a load of crap.
When this was published, the strip had been running for six years and this series looks like a conscious effort on my behalf to introduce a new character. Although Sergeant Slaughter has appeared several times since then, I don't think he has ever really worked. This sequence is, basically, not very good. Or funny.
Ah, well.

I would like to say that I enjoyed this sequence. The character himself may not be hugely funny, but the other characters' reactions to him are. The pause, followed by Dennis offering him a sweetie (the second strip Rob posted) still makes me laugh.

Oh, and I prefer 4-frame to 3-frame too.

[Roger Kettle]

Jack, Andrew REALLY prefers the 3-frame format over the 4-frame one but that's artists for you!
I don't know if you see the Daily Star these days but Beau Peep is allocated a miniscule amount of space and, on a practical note, it makes sense to stick with three frames. On the few occasions that I add an extra one, it tends to be wordless---for example, a silent reaction from Beau (to something Dennis has said) before delivering the punchline.
This job isn't easy, you know. Well, it is but I'm hardly likely to admit it.