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By Lynn Elber
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES >> Comic strip artist Mort Walker, a World War II veteran who satirized the Army and tickled millions of newspaper readers with the antics of the lazy private “Beetle Bailey,” died Saturday. He was 94.
Walker died at his home in Stamford, Conn., said Greg Walker, his eldest son and a collaborator. His father’s advanced age was the cause of death, he said.
Walker began publishing cartoons at age 11 and was involved with more than a half-dozen comic strips in his career, including “Hi and Lois,” “Boner’s Ark” and “Sam &Silo.” But he found his greatest success drawing slacker Beetle, his hot-tempered sergeant and the rest of the gang at fictional Camp Swampy for nearly 70 years.
The character that was to become Beetle Bailey made his debut as Spider in Walker’s cartoons published by the Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. Walker changed Spider’s name and launched “Beetle Bailey” as a college humor strip in 1950.
At first the strip failed to attract readers and King Features Syndicate considered dropping it after just six months, Walker said in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press. The syndicate suggested Beetle join the Army after the start of the Korean War, Walker said.
“I was kind of against it because after World War II, Bill Mauldin and Sad Sack were fading away,” he said. But his misgivings were overcome and Beetle “enlisted” in 1951.
Walker attributed the success of the strip to Beetle’s indolence and reluctance to follow authority.
“Most people are sort of against authority,” he said. “Here’s Beetle always challenging authority. I think people relate to it.”
“Beetle Bailey” led to spinoff strip “Hi and Lois,” which he created with Dik Browne, in 1954. The premise was that Beetle went home on furlough to visit his sister Lois and brother-in-law Hi.
“Beetle Bailey,” which appeared in as many as 1,800 newspapers, sometimes sparked controversy. The Tokyo editions of the military newspaper Stars &Stripes dropped it in 1954 for fear that it would encourage disrespect of its officers. But ensuing media coverage spurred more than 100 newspapers to add the strip.
For years, Walker drew Camp Swampy’s highest-ranking officer, Gen. Amos Halftrack, ogling his well-endowed secretary, Miss Buxley. Feminist groups claimed the strip made light of sexual harassment, and Walker said the syndicate wanted him to write out the lecherous general.
That wasn’t feasible because the general was such a fixture in the strip, Greg Walker said Saturday. His father solved the problem in 1997 by sending Halftrack to sensitivity training.
“That became a whole theme that we could use,” said Greg Walker, who with his brother, Brian, intends to carry on his father’s work. Both have worked in the family business for decades.
“Beetle Bailey” also featured one of the first African-American characters to be added to a white cast in an established comic strip. (“Peanuts” had added the character of Franklin in 1968.) Lt. Jack Flap debuted in 1970.
In a 2002 interview, Walker said that comics are filled with stereotypes and he likes to find humor in all characters.
“I like to keep doing something new and different, so people can’t say I’m doing the same thing all the time. I like to challenge myself,” he said.
Walker also created “Boner’s Ark” in 1968 using his given first name, Addison, as his pen name, and “Sam &Silo” with Jerry Dumas in 1977. He was the writer of “Mrs. Fitz’s Flats” with Frank Roberge.
In 1974, he founded the International Museum of Cartoon Art in Connecticut to preserve and honor the art of comics. It moved twice before closing in 2002 in Boca Raton, Fla.
In 2000, Walker was honored at the Pentagon with the Army’s highest civilian award — the Distinguished Civilian Service award — for his work, his military service and his contribution to a new military memorial.
Addison Morton Walker was born Sept. 3, 1923, in El Dorado, Kan., and grew up in Kansas City, Mo.
In 1943 he was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in Europe during World II. He was discharged as a first lieutenant, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia and pursued a career as a cartoonist in New York.
Walker most recently oversaw the work of the staff at his Stamford studio, Comicana.
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