Beau Peep

Beau Peep is a comic strip published in the British newspaper "The Daily Star", written by Roger Kettle and drawn by Andrew Christine. It was first published on 2 November 1978. It features the eponymous lead character, Beau Peep, a French foreign legionnaire in North Africa.

Characters

*Beau Peep - the main character. Joined the legion to escape from Doris. He is a short, bespectacled man. According to his file, he is an "utterly brainless idiot" although he is considerably smarter than his best friend Dennis. Beau is nowhere near as brave as Dennis. Beau is often annoyed by Dennis' stupidity, although he has a great deal of patience for him. When he was young, Beau wanted to be a concert pianist, or a great conductor.

*Dennis Pratt - Dennis is the extremely slow-witted best friend of Beau. Dennis is slow- witted, vulgar, and a bit of a womanizer, although he is actually one of the comic's most likeable characters. He enjoys doing magic tricks, which he is famously bad at. He has a brother named Hector and a sister called Mavis, which is also the name of his first girlfriend. Apparently he does not like Easter eggs. Dennis is rather brave, but this is down to his stupidity rather than nerve. Dennis likes to be read stories before bed, and is apparently aware of his own stupidity. He wishes to be smart like Beau.

*Doris - Doris is never actually seen in the comics, although she is described as very ugly. Apparently she has many chins, a large frame, an ape-like stance, and short legs. Her knuckles drag on the floor when she walks. She is madly in love with Beau, and follows him everywhere. She can be aggressive, as she threatens to punch the Nomad many times.

*The Nomad - The Nomad was banished from his tribe, until he can find the head of an enemy warrior. The Nomad is fond of singing and dancing, and loves sweets. The Nomad occasionally tries to take over the fort, often failing for stupid reasons, such as forgetting his ladder, or forgetting that there is only one of him. He still believes that the Earth is flat. He also has the nickname "Bobby Brains, the desert whizz kid".

*Sergeant Bidet - Described as having a quality that no one else in the comic has - sanity. He often sends Beau out on dangerous missions, which usually causes Beau to break down in tears.

*Egon the chef - The fort's unclean, unhygienic chef who appears to be an alcoholic. He loves the drinks sherry and vodka. He also has a bad temper, once holding Beau over the wall of the fort by the ankles because he made a joke about Egon's cooking.

*Pierre - The fort's resident bully. Interests include smacking Beau in the mouth, and cracking his knuckles. Seems to leave Dennis alone. Beau has come to a compromise with Pierre at times- but this doesn't last long before Beau's face comes back into contact with Pierre's fist.

*The Colonel - The commanding officer of Beau's fort. He is totally unsuitable for the job as he is insane, often ordering Beau to perform ridiculously stupid tasks. Is receiving psychiatric help, but as he is oblivious to his insanity (and because he is the CO) he chooses to ignore it.

*The Vultures - A father-son duo where the generation gap has never been wider. The father, a traditionalist, adheres to the vulture anthem, "we eat dead camels and any other mammals". The son is a vegetarian who started a band for punk vultures or "Punctures" for short. Actually the term "generation gap" doesn't do this relationship justice. This is a "generation Grand Canyon".

ee also

* Beau Geste

External links

* [http://www.toonhound.com/beaupeep.htm Information on the strip]
* http://www.beaupeep.com/
* [http://www.toontalents.com/beaupeep.htm Interview with Roger Kettle]