Checker Book Publishing Group brings the latest collection of old comic strips to remind us that some of the stalest funnies of today actually used to be really good.
From the press release: “The book will feature the Beetle Bailey daily and Sunday comic strips, syndicated by King Features, which were published between when the comic strip first appeared in September of 1950 and December 1952.
“Beetle Bailey made his comic strip debut on September 4, 1950. In the beginning, the comic strip was set on a college campus. The main characters were based on Walker’s fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri.
“It was not until during the Korean War, when Walker decided to enlist Beetle in the U.S. Army that the comic strip took off and became immensely popular. Beetle enlisted in the US Army on March 13, 1951. None of the characters from Beetle’s university days came with Beetle when he joined the Army. Instead Walker created a whole new quirky set.”
Checker plans to release the book in May/June 2008.
Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey 1950-1952 (Mort Walker Writer/Illustrator )
$24.95, ISBN:978-933160-71-9, 280 pages, Hardcover, b/w and color illustration throughout
April 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Mort Walker will be joining the Checker Book Publishing Group staff at the 2008 New York Comic-Con. Walker will be at Checker’s exhibition booth from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday April 19th signing autographs and talking to fans to celebrate the upcoming release of Checker’s newest book, Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey 1950-1952.