Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey 75 Years of Smiles

By: Brian Walker

Published by Fantagraphics Books, 2025-09-16

"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.