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, it was among the oldest comic strips still being produced by its original creator. Over the years, Mort Walker had been assisted by Jerry Dumas, Bob Gustafson, Frank Johnson and Walker's sons, Neal, Brian and Greg Walker, who are continuing the strip after his death.

Overview

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. 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, which is located near the town of Hurleyburg at "Parris Island, S.C.". 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. It has been printed only in various books on the strip's history. One daily strip had Sarge scare Beetle's hat off, but Beetle was wearing sunglasses. In a 3/27/1966 dream sequence by Sgt. Snorkel, the heroes try to stop the infamous "Pizza Pete"; Beetle/Slobber wears a mask but his eyes can be seen The only acknowledged picture of Beetle Bailey's eyes was published in 2000. 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.

Publication history

During the first two years of Beetle Baileys run, 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 in 1,800 papers in the United States and the rest of the world.
In Sweden, the strip received a dedicated magazine in 1970, with a Norwegian version being added the following year, which is published to this day as of 2020. Denmark also has dedicated magazine, named "Basserne", first published in 1973.

Characters and story

Main characters

Private Carl James "Beetle" Bailey: the main character and the strip's namesake, a feckless, shirking, perpetual goof-off and straggler known for his chronic laziness and generally insubordinate attitude. Slack, hapless, lanky and freckled, Beetle's eyes are always concealed, whether by headgear or, in the rare instance of not wearing any, by his hair. He is an expert in camouflage as he is often hiding from Sarge. He is also a better card player than Sgt. Snorkel, once winning Snorkel's stripes in a poker game. His nickname was given to him by his aunt who thought his freckles made him look like a ladybug beetle. In early strips, it was revealed that he is the brother of Lois Flagston of the Hi and Lois comic strip, which Mort Walker wrote, and Dik Browne drew. Although many of the early comics show Beetle et al are from "Company A", by 2014 the designation had been changed to "Kilo Company" 3rd Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment, in the fictional 13th Division. Beetle's and Lois's grandmother came from Dublin, Ireland. He has an enforced chef's palate from being forced to taste Cookie's questionable preparations. A running gag is that Beetle is sent to peel potatoes as punishment for screwing up - after 38 years in the army, as of 8-21-1989, he has peeled 50,000 potatoes. On one occasion on field exercises when his "782 gear" was supposed to be laid out for inspection by Halftrack, Beetle was the only soldier to have none of his gear with him; a running gag is Beetle lying down to take a nap anywhere, even in front of Sgt Snorkel. A second gag is Beetle's bungling of any simple assignment, even trying to fill the sugar bowls in the mess hall during his first year. Beetle has a brother Chigger.
Sergeant 1st Class Orville P. Snorkel: Beetle's platoon sergeant and nemesis, introduced in 1951. Sarge is known to frequently beat up Beetle for any excuse he can think of, leaving Beetle a shapeless pulp. Once, in the February 2, 1971 strip, he even shoved Beetle through a knothole in the floorboard. Sarge is too lovable to be a villain, however. Obese, snaggle-toothed and volatile, Sarge can be alternately short-tempered and sentimental. He and Beetle seem to have a mutual love/hate relationship; much of the time there is an implied truce between them. They share an uneasy alliance that sometimes borders on genuine friendship. Sarge is also a helpless foodie, loves food like crazy and does not miss even a single chance where he can lay his hands on food. He is seen gobbling up cookies and cakes that Beetle's mother lovingly sends him. Sarge is sometimes also seen at a pub drinking several glasses of beer. In some early strips Sarge was married, but he was later retconned into an unmarried army lifer, who knows next to nothing about civilian life. Despite his grouchiness and bossiness, Sarge does have a soft side, which he usually keeps concealed. He is from Pork Corners, Kansas. He is also known to be foul-mouthed, even compared to the rest of the cast. Sarge's mother's maiden name is "Papadopoulos".
Otto: Sgt. Snorkel's anthropomorphic, look-alike bulldog whom Sarge dresses up the same as himself, in an army uniform. Otto is fiercely protective of Sarge and seems to have a particular antipathy toward Beetle. His first appearance was July 17, 1956; originally he was a regular dog who walked on all fours, but Mort Walker finally decided to make him more human-like, believing he would be "funnier that way.". Otto got his army uniform in the June 6, 1958 strip.
Brigadier General Amos T. Halftrack: the inept, frustrated, alcoholic commander of Camp Swampy, introduced in 1951. He is 78 years old, from Kenner, Louisiana, though according to Capt. Scabbard, he was born in China. As of April 26, 1980 he was married to his wife Martha for 30 years He loves to golf, much to his wife Martha's dismay; although he is a terrible golfer and scored a hole in one only once likewise his golfing clothes are so ridiculous his wife compares him to clown Ronald McDonald. He sometimes dreams about his secretary, Miss Buxley. At his home, the only one who likes him is his pet dog. He also has a "General Halfrack Fan Club" An actual "Half-track" is a military vehicle.
Miss Buxley: Halftrack's blonde, buxom civilian secretary—and occasional soldier's date. Miss Buxley has an apparent interest in Beetle and later becomes his girlfriend, but is constantly pursued by Killer. Although she officially became part of the comic in the November 17, 1971 strip, she made an earlier cameo in 1964 as that of woman who refused to date Killer because she dated officers only and wouldn't believe he was an officer himself because of his "dishpan hands."
Lieutenant Sonny Fuzz: very young, overly earnest, anal-retentive, "by the book" and highly misophonic, especially where squeaky furniture is concerned, which Sarge has been known to exploit just to annoy Fuzz, as they share the same office. The apple-polishing Fuzz is always trying to impress uninterested superiors, and "rub it in the noses" of his subordinates. He was introduced March 7, 1956 and even then he was so naive that Pvt Cosmo actually won Fuzz's uniform in a dice game. Mort Walker said he modeled the character and personality of Lt. Fuzz on himself, having taken himself too seriously after completing Officer Training. Lt. Fuzz has also managed to get on Sarge's bad side, albeit not as much as the enlisted men. A strip had Lt. Fuzz discussing with Sarge about the fact that Beetle Bailey has been a private for a long time and recommends he be sent before a promotion board. Sarge flashes back to all of Beetle's errors, then yells in fury at Lt. Fuzz, who has no idea what he did to infuriate Sgt. Snorkel.
Lieutenant Jackson Flap: the strip's first black character, often touchy and suspicious but effortlessly cool, introduced in 1970. Originally wore an afro hairstyle, but later shaved it off as later regulations disallowed many hairdos. Has often been seen with a beard, and is in most ways the total opposite to Lt. Fuzz, even though they share the same rank. Walker created Flap due to critique of the all-White crew of the comic strip, and was immediately censored by US Army newspaper Stars and Stripes until criticism made the publication revert the decision and publish strips with Flap in them along with the rest.
Cookie Jowls: the mess sergeant, who smokes cigarettes while preparing the mess hall's questionable menu. He practices no sanitary food preparation measures aside from wearing a chef hat, and is almost always seen wearing a tank top. Walker once described him as "the sum of all Army cooks I've met in my life." He bears a striking resemblance to SFC Snorkel and has also been known to occasionally beat up on Beetle. Like Sarge, he also loves food, though he is not above using Beetle as a guinea pig. Although similar to Sarge, Cookie has had the most tension with Snorkel, particularly when Sarge raided the mess hall after Cookie stopped working and the kitchen was off-limits. In the strip of February 8, 2022, he reveals his real first name to be Cornelius. He also revealed that his sense of taste was nonexistent.
Private "Killer" Diller: the notorious ladies' man and Beetle's frequent crony—introduced in 1951. His garrison cap wiggles whenever he gets excited about a woman.
Private Zero: the buck-toothed, naïve farm boy who takes commands and comments literally and misunderstands practically everything. Sometimes Zero, although not lazy, infuriates Sarge more than anyone else. He was raised in Cornpone, Nebraska and worked as a farmhand; A running gag that Zero can't do anything right-he literally painted Sarge's jeep black and white checkered; on a parachute practice jump he ended up upside down; on a routine route march he got separated from his company and asked a farmer if he'd seen a military company missing a rifleman "who looks just like me"; on Sentry Duty he can't remember to give the traditional challenge "Halt! Who Goes there-Friend or Foe".-Whats the Password?
Private Plato: the Camp's resident intellectual; bespectacled, given to scrawling long-winded, analytical, often philosophical graffiti. Named after Plato but based on Walker's pal, fellow cartoonist Dik Browne. Plato is the only character other than Beetle to evolve from the early "college" months of the strip. His full name is Aristotle Anaximenes Heraclitus Papagelis.