Beetle Bailey

Comic Strip by Mort Walker

First appearing in 1950, Beetle Bailey is a humorous comic strip that stars the slacker draftee whose attitudes and adventures came to represent the peacetime draft Army of the 1950s and 1960s. The strip was banned by military newspapers for a time for making fun of officers, but it has lasted more than 50 years and remains one of the most popular comic strips in American newspapers. Although story lines in recent decades have dwelt less on the absurdities of military life, the strip still reflects many aspects of the all volunteer force.

Beetle Bailey has been drawn for its entire existence by Mort Walker. Born in El Dorado, Kansas, Walker moved to Kansas City while still a boy. He became interested in cartooning at an early age and as a teenager had some strips published in Kansas City newspapers. After high school, Walker joined the staff of what later became Hallmark Cards, where he created some of the first humorous greeting cards. Walker was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and served in Italy. He kept a sketchbook and diary that later provided the basis of the Beetle Bailey strip.

After the war, Walker earned a degree from the University of Missouri in 1948. His college days were marked by a tendency to poke fun at authorities and to stand up against pointless requirements. After graduation, he moved to New York City, earning a living as a freelance cartoonist. In 1950, he convinced King Features to buy a comic strip about a slacker college student. Originally named Spider, the main character later became Beetle Bailey. On September 4, 1950, Beetle Bailey appeared in 12 newspapers. His main objective in college appeared to be to enjoy himself as long as possible. With his hat always pulled down over his eyes, Beetle spent his time chasing girls, ducking classes, and shooting the breeze with his buddies.

After six months, King Features planned to cancel the strip. Only 25 papers were carrying it, whereas at least 100 customers were needed for the strip to break even. A newspaper editor suggested that Walker have Beetle enlist in the Army. On March 13, 1951, Beetle did just that, and the strip quickly became more popular. Since the Korean War had broken out in July 1950, Americans were suddenly more aware of the military. Beetle's habit of goading military authority and trying to get by with doing as little as possible fit the country's mood at the time. Unlike the character Sad Sack of World War II, Beetle was not a reluctant soldier who wanted to get the job done and return home, with fate conspiring against him. Instead, Beetle was a soldier who spent his time trying to avoid work and the general foolishness of military life. His attitudes were more in keeping with a period of limited warfare in a distant location, rather than the massive effort to defeat global evil in “the good war.”

Walker quickly developed a supporting cast based on his own Army experience. Beetle's squad mates included the ladies’ man (Killer), the intellectual (Plato), the operator (Cosmo), the rebel (Rocky), and the well-meaning idiot (Zero). His main adversary was Sgt. Orville Snorkel, the tough drill instructor who also doted on his boys. Snorkel became the career noncommissioned officer who had no life or family outside the Army. Lieutenant Fuzz was based on Walker himself—a new officer with a lot of energy and no common sense. The group was completed by General Halftrack, an elderly incompetent who commanded Camp Swampy, a base forgotten by the Pentagon. Other characters were added over time to give the cast a more multicultural appearance. African American Lieutenant Flap appeared in 1970. In the 1990s, Corporal Yo, an Asian American perfectionist, was [Page 72]introduced. The newest character is a computer geek named Gizmo, in a nod toward changing technology. The most interesting character may be Snorkel's dog, Otto. Unlike other animals that appear in the strip, Otto is fully anthropomorphized. Walker sometimes uses this character to offer an outsider's view on the oddities of human nature.

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