February 11th, 2017

Timeline – 1960 Part 4

by Mort Walker

Beetle Bailey Sunday page color proof, June 19, 1960.

The spectacular Sunday page above provides an aerial view of Camp Swampy and the surrounding countryside as well as a colorful description of the “permanent disaster area.” It also features a full-cast line up in the drop panel.

Camp Swampy was inspired by Camp Crowder in Missouri, an antique relic from WWI where Mort Walker trained in 1941.

Beetle Bailey’s home base exists in a time warp, forgotten by the Pentagon, tenuously connected to civilian life and curiously unaffected by progress. Mort made numerous attempts to make the camp more up-to-date and true-to-life but, over the years, it developed a unique personality of its own.

“Camp Swampy isn’t merely an army camp,” wrote Dik Browne in the introduction to The Best of Beetle Bailey. “It is a microcosm of the world, peopled by delightful lunatics, each endowed with an unforgettable character by its creator.”

– Brian Walker