Development of a strip

Below are some sketches of characters I'm developing for a comic strip. I'm working to develop a strip that lends itself to both good long storylines and quick one-day gags.

I'm thinking this will be sort of a family strip, with the parents being the type of do-good liberals that I observe regularly in Madison Wisconsin. I was thinking the family would have two children, a stuffy 12-year old type sister, who wants to become a member of the young republicans, and an imaginative 7-year-old or so younger brother who think he's a pirate. (I love pirates.)

I've worked out some early gags and would love to hear some comments but right now I thought I'd just share some of my very early character sketches.

These are the earliest sketches of the young pirate boy... I liked these but I wanted to see eyes

I liked these but I wanted to see eyes, so I did these, which are getting closer.

But I think these are the strongest, especially the one in pencil which is really too light for you to see clearly.

Here is the development of that stuffy sister, there were some quick sketches of her on the earlier pages.

And here are some early drafts of the father in the family (the sis is here too). He sort of reminds me of a guidance counselor at Kenyon College.