Mort Walker, the creator of the long-running cartoon Beetle Bailey, has died in the US state of Connecticut aged 94.
His son, Greg Walker, said his father had drawn the cartoon of a work-shy army private for 68 years and "he was drawing up to the end".
At its peak, the Beetle Bailey ran in 1,800 newspapers around the world and reached 200 million readers.
It began in 1950 with Beetle as a college student, but he was soon enlisted in the armed forces.
It included characters such as Sgt Snorkle and Gen Halftrack, who existed in the fictional Camp Swampy.
The setting was inspired by Mr Walker's experience in the US Army during World War Two.
In 2000, he was awarded the army's highest civilian honour - the Distinguished Civilian Service award - for his work and military service.
Fellow cartoonist Mark Evanier paid tribute to Mr Walker on his website.
"He was delightful to be around and always willing to draw Beetle or Sarge for any of his fans. He sure had a lot of them," he said.
Oh that is sad a great cartoonist and a cultural icon even although many people probably won't remember his name but they will recall his art style and Beetle Bailey. Mort's art always made me smile and whilst I really liked "Beetle Bailey" ok I admit it, it was more Miss Buxley , for me his true work of genius was "Hi and Lois" I fell in love with that strip after picking up a battered "Hi and Lois" paperback around 1970 for 10p (I still have it but its falling apart from reading so much)
ReplyDeleteWe certainly are losing more and more creators. When you think about how long ago you picked up that paperback and realise just how long ago that was (I try NOT to think about those things!)and then how long before that Walker started drawing his comics....I saw John Byrne on a recent convention video and I thought "WoW! he's aged" but realised when I met him at the old UKCAC in the 1980s he was older than me! We see the work but forget these people age too!
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