Red and Rover by Brian Basset for November 02, 2023

Bullying. It’s called bullying.

Bullying + Swearing. They’re called “grawlix.”

That’s how swearing was shown in the “old days.” Now it’s all out there—media (although the news and TV bleep words out), movies, music, and worse, people in public, where it’s an assault on the ears (you know the word I mean).

I’m sure Beetle got the message!

It is so sweet how innocent Red is that he doesn’t even know that they are swear words! Ah, it truly was a simpler, sweeter time..

So Red is recovered. The story arc didn’t fill the week after all.

Don’t grow up too fast, Red. Keep your innocence.

Live Rover’s expression in the last panel.

What the #!#**

Beetle Bailey was the first comic I remember reading as a child! Wish GoComics had it!

Curses! Foiled again!

I’ll get out my secret decoder ring.

In the original run of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandoes, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby used to represent the (presumed) obscenities that Fury sometimes unleashed on his platoon with substitute expressions like “chicken-scratchin’.” And in my youthful ignorance, I imagined that those really were the sorts of epithet a furious sergeant would unleash on his wayward soldiers.

Sure enough, BB was the first place I ever saw grawlixes.

The text balloon would be filled with a grawlix.

Right ….. Red ….. it’s a secret code for Beetle …….. Rover, just likes you to read to him ……. :)

Mort Walker invented the term “Grawlix” for those.