50 Years of Beetle Bailey
Surely this poor PFC should've gotten a shot at retirement by now, but  his fans just won't let him go. After 50 years in service, Beetle still stays firmly lodged in the nation's top five comic strips, in 1,800 newspapers in 52 different countries with 200 million readers every day. Creator Mort Walker has lovingly put together this decade-by-decade compilation to commemorate Beetle's extended tour of duty, throwing in a little bit of the strip's history for good measure. Whether it was Lt. Flap's introduction to the outfit ("How come there's no blacks in this honkie outfit?!") or General Halftrack's stint in sensitivity training for drooling over Miss Buxley, Walker's strip has always stayed current, even in the face of controversy. (In fact, as Walker explains, the strip owes much of its initial success to raising a ruckus. It only really took off after being banned from theStars and Stripesfor what he calls "making fun of officers.") The hundreds of black-and-white daily and Sunday strips will likely charm even those new to Camp Swampy, but it's the die-hard fans who'll appreciate Walker's final illustration: the only existing picture of Beetle Bailey's eyes.--Paul Hughes