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Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the oldest comic strips still being produced by its original creator. Over the years, Mort Walker had been assisted by (among others) Jerry Dumas, Bob Gustafson, Frank Johnson and Walker's sons, Neal, Brian and Greg Walker, who are continuing the strip after his death.
Beetle was originally a college student at Rockview University, as of September 4, 1950. Although he was as lazy in college as he would be in the service, he did have a broken down jalopy and was the star of the track team (apparently on a scholarship). He had four friends: Bitter Bill; Diamond Jim; Freshman and Sweatsock. He also smoked a pipe. The characters in that early strip were modeled after Walker's Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri. On March 13, 1951, during the strip's first year, Beetle quit school and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he has remained ever since. His reason for enlisting was because he was running away after being nearly trapped by both his angry jealous first girlfriend "Buzz" and a second girl who was chasing him.
Most of the humor in Beetle Bailey revolves around the inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy (inspired by Camp Crowder, where Walker had once been stationed while in the Army), which is located near the town of Hurleyburg at "Parris Island, S.C." (a real-life Marine Corps base).[citation needed] Private Bailey is a lazy sort who usually naps and avoids work, and thus is often the subject of verbal and physical chastising from his senior NCO, Sergeant Snorkel. The characters never seem to see combat themselves, with the exception of mock battles and combat drills.
Beetle is always seen with a hat or helmet which covers his forehead and eyes. Even on leave, his "civvies" include a pork pie hat worn in the same style. He can be seen without it only once—in the original strip, when he was still a college student. The strip was pulled and never ran in any newspaper.[citation needed] It has been printed only in various books on the strip's history. In his 1975 memoir Backstage at the Strips, Walker addressed the question of Beetle's eyes, saying:
I constantly get inquiries as to the color of Beetle's eyes. As if I knew. Black as ink, I suppose, if he has any. Maybe there's nothing under the hat. Why should there be? There is nothing until I draw it, and I've never drawn his eyes. Why, then, should he have any?
One running gag has Sergeant Snorkel hanging helplessly from a small tree branch after having fallen off a cliff, with the first instance running on August 16, 1956. While he is never shown falling off, or even walking close to the edge of a cliff, he always seems to hold on to that same branch, yelling for help.
During the first two years of Beetle Bailey's run (1950–1952), Walker did all work on the strip himself, including writing, penciling, inking and lettering; however, in 1952 he hired cartoonist Fred Rhoads as his first assistant. After that, numerous people assisted Walker on the strip through the years.
As of 2016, the strip was being syndicated (by King Features) in 1,800 papers in the United States and the rest of the world.
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Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the oldest comic strips still being produced by its original creator. Over the years, Mort Walker had been assisted by (among others) Jerry Dumas, Bob Gustafson, Frank Johnson and Walker's sons, Neal, Brian and Greg Walker, who are continuing the strip after his death.
Beetle was originally a college student at Rockview University, as of September 4, 1950. Although he was as lazy in college as he would be in the service, he did have a broken down jalopy and was the star of the track team (apparently on a scholarship). He had four friends: Bitter Bill; Diamond Jim; Freshman and Sweatsock. He also smoked a pipe. The characters in that early strip were modeled after Walker's Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri. On March 13, 1951, during the strip's first year, Beetle quit school and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he has remained ever since. His reason for enlisting was because he was running away after being nearly trapped by both his angry jealous first girlfriend "Buzz" and a second girl who was chasing him.
Most of the humor in Beetle Bailey revolves around the inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy (inspired by Camp Crowder, where Walker had once been stationed while in the Army), which is located near the town of Hurleyburg at "Parris Island, S.C." (a real-life Marine Corps base).[citation needed] Private Bailey is a lazy sort who usually naps and avoids work, and thus is often the subject of verbal and physical chastising from his senior NCO, Sergeant Snorkel. The characters never seem to see combat themselves, with the exception of mock battles and combat drills.
Beetle is always seen with a hat or helmet which covers his forehead and eyes. Even on leave, his "civvies" include a pork pie hat worn in the same style. He can be seen without it only once—in the original strip, when he was still a college student. The strip was pulled and never ran in any newspaper.[citation needed] It has been printed only in various books on the strip's history. In his 1975 memoir Backstage at the Strips, Walker addressed the question of Beetle's eyes, saying:
I constantly get inquiries as to the color of Beetle's eyes. As if I knew. Black as ink, I suppose, if he has any. Maybe there's nothing under the hat. Why should there be? There is nothing until I draw it, and I've never drawn his eyes. Why, then, should he have any?
One running gag has Sergeant Snorkel hanging helplessly from a small tree branch after having fallen off a cliff, with the first instance running on August 16, 1956. While he is never shown falling off, or even walking close to the edge of a cliff, he always seems to hold on to that same branch, yelling for help.
During the first two years of Beetle Bailey's run (1950–1952), Walker did all work on the strip himself, including writing, penciling, inking and lettering; however, in 1952 he hired cartoonist Fred Rhoads as his first assistant. After that, numerous people assisted Walker on the strip through the years.
As of 2016, the strip was being syndicated (by King Features) in 1,800 papers in the United States and the rest of the world.