Storytelling 11: State of mind

As everybody knows, Zero is the good-hearted but a bit slow country boy in Beetle Bailey's outfit. Here he is, early in the morning, not-quite-awake yet and thinking he's got to go out to milk the cows.

Now, you could make this a joke about Zero being so stupid that he actually believes that he's got to go out and milk the cows, but that wouldn't be particularly funny. First of all, it would be a cruel sort of humor that Mort Walker doesn't resort to, and second, it wouldn't work anyway as that would go against the character of Zero as it has been established in the strip for well over half a century.

So how does Walker go about making this a credible, not-cruel gag? He emphasizes that Zero is still not quite awake, and that that's why he's preparing to go out and milk the cows as he always does at home.

First, the setting tells us about it being so early in the morning as to be practically night. Beetle is in his bed and undressed, which signals sleeping time (of course it's necessary for Beetle to be in his bed and out of his clothes, as Beetle sleeping isn't in itself much of a signal that it's nighttime). Note also Zero's state of undress. He's taking his jacket on outside his undershirt; clearly he's just gotten out of bed.

Beetle's line in the second panel also helps set the stage, by reminding (or informing) the reader that Zero's from a farm, which explains why he suddenly feels so duty-bound to milk cows.

And finally, the clue that tells the reader that Zero's groggy with sleep: Look at his eyes, in both panels. They're half-closed, and not exactly focused; in fact, the don't even line up properly. (Also, the little bubble-like round things behind his head in the first panel is a classic comics marker that somebody is groggy, tired, drunk or a little bit crazy.)

You may think that the gag isn't all that strong, but the backing it gets from the meticulous storytelling nevertheless makes it work.

Storytelling 6: More loud yelling

I'll have more to say on this (probably using Frank Miller's "Daredevil" as an example) but here are the basics: comics use visual cues – like size and shape of balloons and size and shape of letters – to reveal the qualities of sound – like how loud it is. Generally speaking, the fatter and bigger the letters, the louder the sound. We already know that "Sarge" in Mort Walker's "Beetle Bailey" is a loud man; let's watch him prove it:

Note how not all the letters in Sarge's yelling are visible. Why not? Because they're so big that there isn't even room for them in the panel! Ergo, they have to be very loud, don't they?


…Or do I mean VERY LOUD?!!

Storytelling 5: More on sound

In our exploration of sound in the comics panel, we once more look at the storytelling skills of Mort Walker. This time, it's about telling us something we didn't realize about the qualities of an everyday object.

Lt. Fuzz thinks Cookie should be wearing a helmet, and Cookie reveals that he's already wearing one – in a drastic, immediately-understandable manner that will let the reader make the connection immediately. The joke hinges on the use of Cookie hitting his chef's hat with the soupçon to make an immediately recognizable metallic sound ("BONG"); if the reader would have to read Cookie's whole line explaining that "this hat is made of metal", the joke would fall entirely flat. As so often in humor, it's mostly about timing, and the visual shortcut is what makes the timing work.

(The joke is also dependent on another quality of comics: the cartoony way the hat is depicted lets Walker get away with suddenly springing the "it's metal" joke on us. In real life, it would be obvious pretty soon that Cookie's chef's hat wasn't exactly normal, but a cartoon doesn't give enough detail and realism for us to recognize that – which is why we don't react with a feeling that we've been cheated: "Hey, no fair! We would have noticed long ago if that hat was made of steel!")

Storytelling 4: Loud yelling

Here, Mort Walker plays with established comics language – or perhaps established comics semiotics, if we want to be more precise and pretentious. Beetle and Killer decide to try to fool Sarge into believing that he's losing his hearing, so they "talk" soundlessly.

Sarge responds equally soundlessly in panel 5 – but Walker uses enough established comics symbols for "loud yelling" to convince them – and us readers – that his response is, in fact, louder than loud. And yet, he only needs to use two (or perhaps four) symbols for "loud yelling" to give us that impression – in spades.

First, there's Sarge's face. He a) looks angry and b) his mouth is open wide. Hence, we "know" that he is yelling angrily. Second, there's his word balloon. It is c) drawn with a heavy outline, which is an established symbol for loudness – perhaps the outline needs to be heavier and stronger to be able to contain all the loud words in big, fat letters? – and it is also d) very large, which is necessary to make room for all those big, fat letters.

Two more things support the impression of loudness given to the reader. In the preceding panel, the scowling look on Sarge's face indicates that he is both on to the soldiers' scheme and not pleased about it, and in panel 5, the hasty exit by Killer and Beetle supports the notion that Sarge is now so angry that the smart thing is to not stick around – and one indication of how angry somebody is is of course how loudly they are yelling at you.

Brilliantly done, and very funny.