Buzz
It's a rare feat for a cartoonist to create a single hit comic strip, but the late Mort Walker (1923-2018) managed to craft two. Beyond the suburban family humor of Hi and Lois, Walker also launched the military satire Beetle Bailey, which follows a hapless recruit testing the patience of his tough, often abusive, Sergeant Snorkel. Discover some lesser-known details about Beetle’s creation, his momentary serious turn, and the reason Walker once ran afoul of authorities for illustrating navels.
1. IT BEGAN AS A CAMPUS COMEDY.
Walker’s first concept for the strip didn’t involve any military imagery. While working as a cartoonist for The Saturday Evening Post, he came up with a story about a college student named Spider who wore a hat to cover his eyes and tried to get by with minimal effort. Eventually, Walker reworked the idea, changing Spider’s name to Beetle Bailey—a tribute to a supportive editor at the Post—and had him stumble into a military recruitment office. The setting shifted from a college dorm to Army barracks, drawing inspiration from Walker’s own experience as a soldier during World War II. Beetle Bailey debuted in 1950, and Walker would go on to hold the record for the longest-running comic strip created by a single artist, working on it for 68 years.
2. THE U.S. MILITARY BANISHED IT.
In the 1950s, Beetle Bailey settled in as a regular but unspectacular feature in the comics section. Then, Walker received an unexpected boost in attention. The U.S. military's Stars and Stripes newspaper, which had been publishing the strip, banned it from its Tokyo editions due to concerns that it might foster disrespect for commanding officers (Beetle’s laziness and apathy toward orders were seen as problematic). The ban persisted for a decade, but the controversy surrounding it only increased Beetle’s presence in the media. The strip eventually expanded to more than 1,800 newspapers.
3. IT FACED BACKLASH FOR INTRODUCING A BLACK CHARACTER.
In 1970, Walker “integrated” Beetle’s Camp Swampy by introducing Lt. Jack Flap, a black soldier. This move led Stars and Stripes to ban the strip again, worried that it might spark racial tensions within the military. The backlash was felt in some Southern newspapers, who also chose to drop the comic. However, the added attention only fueled the strip’s popularity, helping it expand by 100 more newspapers.
4. WALKER WAS PROHIBITED FROM DRAWING BELLY BUTTONS.
For many years, comic strips were regarded as family-friendly entertainment, often subject to harsh censorship. In 2005, Mort Walker recalled a long-standing disagreement with an editor who banned him from depicting belly buttons in Beetle Bailey strips.
“Whenever I drew a girl in a swimsuit, I’d include a navel,” Walker recalled. “They’d remove it. I’d add another, and they’d remove that too. I heard the editor started collecting them. He’d cut them out with a razor blade and store them in a small box labeled ‘Beetle Bailey’s Belly Button Box.'” To get back at him, Walker once drew Camp Swampy receiving a delivery of navel oranges, each featuring a mascot with a bare midriff. The oranges, of course, had navels as well. Overwhelmed, the editor finally gave up.
5. WALKER DREW ADULT VERSIONS OF THE STRIP.
It’s not uncommon for artists working on family-oriented material to create more mature versions for their personal amusement. Even Dr. Seuss was known to indulge in adult-themed drawings. Walker was no exception, though he took it further by seeing his more risqué Beetle Bailey sketches published in Sweden. The collection, titled Knasen: Varning for Snusk (Warning for Smut), featured Beetle and his crew in explicit, cheeky scenes, with crude jokes and overtly sexual behavior. “Sometimes we get ideas for strips that are inappropriate,” Walker said in 2000. “We might draw them for ourselves. Well, an editor in Sweden once asked about them, and I said, 'Oh, you can’t publish those in newspapers.' And he replied, 'We can over here.'”
6. THE GENERAL WAS ACCUSED OF SEXISM.
In 1997, General Amos Halftrack, the commanding officer at Camp Swampy, faced accusations of sexism due to his long history of comments aimed at his curvaceous secretary, Miss Buxley. In response, Walker decided to send Halftrack to sensitivity training, following a string of headlines about real-life military commanders facing similar allegations. A few years earlier, Walker had made changes to Buxley’s wardrobe after receiving complaints from readers about her revealing outfits.
7. BEETLE STRUGGLED WITH PTSD.
In an unusual shift toward a more serious tone, Walker addressed the real-world struggles of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and brain injuries sustained by soldiers through his strip. In a 2013 comic, Beetle is depicted experiencing nightmares and sleepless nights. Walker explained that he included this storyline to raise awareness about the long-term psychological effects of war on returning veterans.
8. ABRAHAM LINCOLN INSPIRED HIS STATUE.
A bronze statue of Beetle stands on the University of Missouri campus, where Walker graduated in 1948. When faculty approached him about creating a sculpture, Walker decided to base it on a statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting, which had been crafted by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum. This Lincoln statue allowed tourists to sit next to it for photos. Similarly, Beetle’s statue shows him casually sitting at a table. It was unveiled in 1992.
9. HE OFFENDED BILL CLINTON'S SUPPORTERS.
In 1997, Walker made a modern-day reference in a strip otherwise set in a timeless world. One character joked that the draft should be reinstated, specifically to send then-president Bill Clinton to Vietnam. (In 1992, Clinton was criticized for joining the Reserve Officer Training Corps, a move many saw as an attempt to dodge the draft.) Walker received hundreds of angry letters in response to the joke.
10. THE PENTAGON ACKNOWLEDGED THE STRIP.
After five decades of work, Beetle Bailey finally received recognition from his superiors. In May 2000, the (real) Pentagon invited Walker and three of his characters to a ceremony where he was honored for his contributions to military morale. Walker was awarded the Secretary of the Army's Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service, the Army's highest civilian distinction. "I think they've finally learned to laugh at themselves a bit," Walker said. "They're not kicking me out of Stars and Stripes anymore like they did a couple of times."
