Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles

by Brian Walker

Overview

A handsome coffee-table career retrospective of one of the most respected, dedicated, and prolific cartoonists in the history of comics, Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker.

“Old cartoonists never die. They just erase away…” This was one of Mort Walker’s favorite sayings, and until his final days, he lived by his motto, engaging millions of readers through his beloved comics. Walker had the longest tenure of any cartoonist on his original creation in the history of comics. He produced Beetle Bailey for 67 years, 3 months and 12 days – that’s 24,576 strips. He penciled his last week of daily strips on December 16, 2017.

Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles is a coffee table retrospective commemorating Mort Walker’s long and dedicated commitment to cartooning, spotlighting the anniversary of his most popular and beloved creation. In addition to the 75 Sunday pages reproduced from color syndicate proofs, 135 daily and Sunday strips scanned from original artwork, and close to 200 additional images, this beautifully designed volume, impeccably researched and written by his son Brian, also includes rare photographs, historic debut character appearances, syndicate promotional materials, posters, merchandise, personal drawings and memorabilia from the family archives, as well as biographical sketches and anecdotes.

Dubbed “The Dean of American Cartooning,” Walker was one of the most prolific cartoonists in the comics business, with the creation of nine different syndicated strips during his lifetime, including Beetle Bailey, one of the most widely syndicated strips in the world. Beetle Bailey remains a popular feature in newspapers today and is currently produced by his sons Greg, Brian and Neal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798875001338
Publisher:	Fantagraphics
Publication date:	09/16/2025
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	12.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Brian Walker has a diverse background in professional cartooning and cartoon scholarship. He is a former director of the Museum of Cartoon Art, where he worked from 1974 to 1992.  Since 1984, he has been part of the creative team that produces the comic strips, Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois. He has written, edited or contributed to forty-five books on cartoon art, served as curator for seventy-five cartoon exhibitions and is the founder and current chairman of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.