When I was in grade school, the school library had a huge hardcover book filled with classic comic strips. This book not only introduced me to stuff like The Katzenjammer Kids and Father Knows Best, but a host of other strips that had become staples of the American newspaper. The weirdest part of it was numerous strips that had become safe, dull, familiar standbys had originally been funny and vibrant strips. Beetle Bailey was one of these, originally starting out as a strip called “Spider” (if I recall correctly), following a college age character who eventually changes his name to Beetle and joins the service to fight in the Korean War.

At some point in the strip’s life, it went from being a fairly funny and relevant creation to being one of Mort Walker’s money-making products. Recently I’ve noticed that the strip has been oscillating between its typical hackneyed all-ages appropriate humor and stuff that’s straight up racy for the funnies page. Take a look at the following strips, all from the same week, and see for yourself.

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