Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker dies at 94

Mort Walker, the comic strip artist who created Beetle Bailey, died over the weekend at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 94. Walker drew the strip, about a loafing Army private, for 68 years, the longest such daily run ever, according to syndicator King Features. Beetle Bailey originally was a slow-moving college student named Spider, but Walker turned him into an Army private with the onset of the Korean War. The Tokyo edition of Stars & Stripes banned the strip for fear it would encourage real service members to become slackers, but that only gave it free publicity that sent circulation soaring. In the 1970s, Walker added a black character, Lt. Flap, stoking the strip's popularity again. His sons plan to continue the comic.

NPR