- Joe Soap
"Joe Soap" was a
photographic comic series published in the Britishcomic book "Eagle", from issue 12 (datedJune 12 1982 ) until issue 45 (datedJanuary 29 1983 ). It was written by Alan Grant andJohn Wagner , with photography byGary Compton . Another character of the same name appeared in Cracker and The Beezer.Plot
The humorous strip featured Joseph Soaper, a self-styled hardboiled "enquiry agent", who was in reality a down-trodden and occasionally incompetent
private detective . Nicknamed Soap due to his softness, Soaper spent his days mired in unprofitable or even ludicrous cases, which weren't helped by his tendency to miss obviousclue s and antagonise both clients andpolice .The character of Joe Soap would reappear during the late 1980s, this time in drawn form, in a comic strip/puzzle feature which would be published in both the "Eagle Summer Special" and the "Eagle Annual" of that year. Titled "Could You Be a Joe Soap?", readers were encouraged to read the story carefully and try to spot in both the frames and speech balloons all the clues Joe missed. In the final panel, after realising that he has got everything completely wrong, Joe would almost always end up exclaiming "Oh no! Where did I go wrong this time?", or words to that effect.
In the song "Blind Youth" of "The Human League" Joe Soap is in the refrain.
"Blind youth take hope, youre no JOE SOAPYour time is due, big fun come soon"
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