10 Classic Beetle Bailey Comics About Army Life Every Recruit Can Relate To

Introduced just a month before Charlie Brown and the Peanut Gang the title character of Mort Walker's legendary newspaper comic strip Bailey BeetleHe started out as a university student, but soon joined the army – and never left. Afterwards, Beetle spent his entire life in the military, as a private stationed at Camp Swampythe most hilariously unreliable outpost of the United States military.

However Bailey beetle was never truly disrespectful to the army, it always portrayed the daily stagnation of being a soldier on duty with your tongue firmly planted in your cheek.

This led the US Army to institute a ban on the comics early in their run – something that, according to Bailey's creator actually made the cartoon more popular. In the following decades, the comics' irreverent comedy made them a favorite of countless readers, both inside and outside the military.

10

“Someone with the courage to speak”

First published: March 25, 1955

At this beginning Bailey beetle comically, the Beetle's superior officer, Sergeant Snorkel, proposes an open forum, offering the troops under his command the chance to air any service complaints they may have. Still adapting to life as a soldier Beetle Bailey is the only recruit to step forward the only one in his unit with “the courage to speak” – a hint of individualism that immediately assigns him to the task of peeling potatoes.

This is, perhaps, the perennial theme of Bailey beetle; Countless panels over the decades have derived humor from the clash of their individual characters, and their whims and caprices, against the rigid structure of military life. To a large extent, the universality of this theme is part of what has allowed a vast audience to appreciate Bailey beetle sensitivities.

9

“This is Camp Swampy, sir”

First published: April 23, 1955

In this Bailey beetle cartoon, sergeant. Snorkel frantically instructs Beetle and other recruits to prepare the barracks in time for inspection by “the Pentagon General“- who, in the final frame, checks out Camp Swampy with binoculars from his plane window and decides to move on”to the next camp.”

Much is made of Bailey beetle view of authority, expressed by its lower-ranking characters in relation to military superiors and decision-makers, but in truth, the strip was more satirically insightful in mocking those in charge's view of the lower ranks. This is exemplified here by the high-ranking officer's casual disregard for the actual soldiers on the ground, literally literalizing a common sentiment among the “grunts.”

8

“If they just didn't give us all this work to do”

First published: September 8, 1958

This cartoon is another example where Bailey Beetle the humor is rooted in a universal feeling, which is expressed through characters who happen to be in the Army. That is, Beetle and his private companions opine that their jobs wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the work they have to do – a highly relatable idea that this joke effectively encapsulates.

Even during times when America was at war, Bailey Beetle it was always a representation of military life outside of active combat, where the greatest dangers were boredom and stagnation. This highlighted to many readers that the Army is, for the most part, just another job – albeit one with stricter rules than the most rigorous civilian workplace.

7

“Start by cutting men's food rations”

First published: October 28, 1960

This strip is another powerful example of Bailey beetle ability to identify harsh truths about bureaucracy with light-hearted humor. The cartoon's tone and style were never confrontational, but creator Mort Walker didn't hesitate to call out power inequities as he saw them. Here, budget cuts are imposed on the Army from the top down – and, naturally, aCamp Swampy's commander, General Halfrack, sits behind a huge desk in a plush office, smoking a cigar, and suggests that the cuts could begin with “reducing men's food rations.”

Although the joke is seemingly innocuous, readers would not be wrong in thinking that this was precisely the kind of authority-challenging humor that made the Army uneasy. Bailey Beetle during the first years of his administration.

6

“I didn't get something hard and burnt”

​​​​​​First published: July 22, 1962

This one without beetle Bailey beetle comic book stars Sgt. Snorkel, and conveys another incredibly relatable feeling that both military officers and civilians will find very familiar. In other words, the feeling of being so consumed by your career that you don't know what to do on your day off.

Left with plenty of time to think and no hobbies to occupy himself, Sgt. Snorkel endures a prolonged dark Sunday of the soul, asking yourself “all this time in service, and what do I have to show for it?“and regretting it”all [he does] is to end up taking solitary walks and wondering what went wrong.” In an especially satisfying gag, Snorkel thinks that perhaps a higher rank would give his life more meaning – while General Halfstack falls against a tree, thinking exactly the same thing.

5

“It doesn't seem fair…”

First published: November 22, 1963​​​​​​​

Pop was recurring Bailey beetle character, notable for the way he was frequently singled out for abuse by Sgt. Snorkel. Here, he ends up being the envy of the Sergeant, but only because of an unfortunate series of small problems that kept him busy all the night before.

When Snorkel demands to know why Pop messed up”the general's lecture last night”, Pop explains that:

My wife got sick. I had to take care of all the kids and look for our lost dog and my car broke down and I had to run to the pharmacy and fix the heater in our RV before we all froze.

Hilariously, in response to this litany of apologies, Sergeant Snorkel thinks: “I don't look fair“- not that a man would have to deal with so much without help, but that Pop had a legitimate excuse for disappearing”general's lecture“, when Snorkel and the rest of the camp had to go through this.

4

“It’s American nature to resist authority.”

First published: June 21, 1964

In this cartoon, author Mort Walker essentially expresses the thesis of Bailey Beetle – that is, there is an inherently paradoxical conflict between “the American nature of resisting authority“, and service in the U.S. military, which requires unquestioning obedience to the chain of command. Soldiers may need to sacrifice a certain degree of freedom to preserve the ideal of freedom and the freedom and security of the civilian population, but that does not make submission to authority easier for the average American soldier.

This is illustrated simply and effectively here, as General Halfstack gives a speech to a sea of ​​identical, faceless soldiers, all listening intently except the one holding a sign that reads: “No!” – to which the General's camp aid could only say “Don't let it get to you, sir.”

3

“Ever heard of saluting him?”

First published: April 6, 1965​​​​​​​

Authority and the individual come into conflict once again in this Bailey beetle strip – except for a change of pace, the individual comes out on top here, as Beetle finds a loophole in the strict rule that senior officers must be saluted. “I don't have to salute if I'm walking”, states Beetle in the second panel, after being warned in the first, with the final frame revealing him to be on roller skates, with the offended cop trying to find some rule in the book to court-martial him.

“That doesn't say anything about skates, sir,” his aides inform him, giving Beetle a rare triumph and a solid laugh thanks to the skate reveal, which amounts to one of the dumbest things Bailey Beetle jokes like that.

2

“Camp Swampy's rockets explode by themselves!”

First published: October 26, 1966

“Camp Swampy rockets explode on their own,” General Halfstack laments, noting that America’s Soviet enemies don’t even need to attack the base like your new”anti-missile missile” falls apart on its own. Once again, a superficial joke hides a deeper criticism, intentional or not. In the mid-1960s, the Cold War was still escalating and U.S. spending on military technology was steadily increasing.

With this cartoon, Mort Walker satirized the arms race, once again hinting at a counterculture tone, more in line with the increasingly dissatisfied portion of the public, which would become increasingly vocal in its protests in the late 1960s, than with the hawks who insisted on a strong national defense and an excessive weapons budget.

First published: January 14, 2007​​​​​​​

Jumping almost four decades into the future, this midnight Bailey Beetle cartoon finds the title character and his platoon in full color and marching at full speed. The comic does not focus on Bailey himself but rather on a longtime supporting character, Soldier Plato, who occupies himself and his squad with rhyming couplets throughout his march.

Over the years, Bailey beetle developed a group of familiar characters, all of whom embody the themes and motifs of the comics in a unique way. Likewise, members of the Peanut Gang developed distinct personalities over the fifty years of that seminal cartoon, Bailey Beetle spent three-quarters of a century honing its cast, from the lowest-ranking soldiers at Camp Swampy to the chiefs.