Beetle Bailey, the cartoon figure, often ends up folded, spindled and mutilated after an encounter with Sgt. Snorkel. But "Beetle Bailey" the comic strip is one tough hombre.
Since debuting in 1950, Mort Walker's strip has been banned from Stars & Stripes for being disrespectful to officers, dropped from Southern newspapers after introducing black officer Lt. Jack Flap (!) and faced accusations of misogyny over the ogling of va-va-voom-ish Miss Buxley (!!).
Now, to mark its 60th anniversary -- making it a mash-up of icon and anachronism -- the strip will spend the summer revisiting historical military moments on sporadic Sundays. (We're especially looking forward to Beetle kissing a woman on V-J Day.)
The controversies speak to what people might think about the strip; here are a few fun facts that most folks might not know about it:
• It was the last comic strip approved by William Randolph Hearst.
• It debuted in 1950 as "Spider," the saga of a college student. A year later, the arachnid became a bug named Beetle.
• Beetle's eyes never have been shown, always covered by a helmet or ball cap. Sarge once "shouted" off his cap, to reveal ... sunglasses.
• Mad Magazine parodied the strip in 1969, removing Beetle's cap to show the message "Get out of Vietnam."
