Baby-Face and Burp

Along with a particular Burp strip in Oink! comic by Jeremy Banx (the sand planet, where an entirely unpopulated desert planet where Burp enjoys picnics is spoilt by a wasp hiding in his hamper), this comic library is the single biggest influence on the way I write comics. It has the three elements I think that you need in a good english kids comic strip to make it funny.

1. An odd central character. They are so much easier to write than than the everyman type, or the one note 'ability' character like Sammy Shrink, Ball Boy etc.

2. Weird dialogue. If you write characters to say things oddly, use old-fashioned words or just not make much sense, you've got jokes in nearly every panel.

3. A plot that swerves and always does the unexpected. Keep the reader surprised, that's my tip.

Burp had an additional ingredient, which Banx was able to work in by the end of it's run; a kind of poetry and an insight into the human condition. It only became like that when it went to two pages and gave him enough space, but apart from utilising the extra page I don't know how he did it. He somehow ended up with the single greatest strip in the entire history of british children's comics. Don't agree with me? Tough. You're wrong.