Beetle Bailey made his comic-strip debut as a college cutup in 1950 in a mere 50 newspapers. The feature was soon bought and syndicated by King Features and is noted as the last strip personally approved by William Randolph Hearst.
With America's entry into the Korean conflict, cartoonist Mort Walker's star character accidentally enlisted in the Army, and the rest is comic-strip history! Beetle Bailey went on to become the third most widely distributed comic strip of all time. His error proved a blessing in disguise, as readers of more than 1,800 newspapers around the world can attest today.
The strip is rounded off by a melting pot of outrageous characters that have become stars in their own right. In addition, the Beetle Bailey cast of characters have also been the inspiration for dozens of games, toys, puzzles, patches, apparel and greeting cards.