My Life in Cartoons: Brian Walker Celebrates 75 Years of Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey
The Cartoon Art Museum marks the 75th anniversary of Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey with a Sunday afternoon Toon Talk with Mort’s son, cartoonist and historian Brian Walker, on February 15, 2026 from 4:00 to 6:00pm in a special event that is included with Cartoon Art Museum admission and free for Cartoon Art Museum members. Walker looks back on his life in cartoons with stories, artwork, and an insider’s look at growing up with a world famous cartoonist for a father and going into the family business.
The award-winning historian will also share highlights from his two latest books, Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles, an illustrated history published by Fantagraphics books celebrating one of the most popular comic strips of all time, and the new and revised edition of Mort Walker’s The Lexicon of Comicana, originally published in 1980, but updated and edited by Brian Walker with a new introduction by Chris Ware, published by New York Review Books.
Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles and The Lexicon of Comicana will be available for purchase at the event. You can pre-order these books and reserve your seat through the following link:
https://guestlist.co/events/813667
ABOUT BRIAN WALKER
Brian Walker has a diverse background in professional cartooning and cartoon scholarship. He is a former director of the Museum of Cartoon Art, where he worked from 1974 to 1992. Since 1984, he has been part of the creative team that produces the comic strips, Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois. He has written, edited or contributed to forty-five books on cartoon art, served as curator for seventy-five cartoon exhibitions and is the founder and current chairman of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.
ABOUT MORT WALKER’S BEETLE BAILEY: 75 YEARS OF SMILES
“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.
ABOUT THE LEXICON OF COMICANA
A new edition of Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker’s riotous and immensely influential handbook for drawing and reading cartoons—a book that’s both a parody of humorless how-to guides and a genuine (and genuinely instructive) ode to the art of making comics.
In a cartoon, what do you call the sweat drops shooting off a character’s head? Those are “Plewds.” What about when you see a character wagging their tongue out of their mouth? Oh, that’s a “Protusilation.” How about the lines coming off a freshly baked pie? That’s “Waftarom.” This sort of playful comics nomenclature abounds in The Lexicon of Comicana, the revered 1980 cartooning handbook authored by Mort Walker, creator of the legendary daily comic strip Beetle Bailey.
Both a send-up of lofty how-to-draw books and a sincere and hilarious love letter to the art of drawing cartoons, the Lexicon is a joyously exhaustive cheat sheet to key comics visuals that has been referenced and treasured by generations of cartoonists. This new edition includes an introduction by Chris Ware—who keeps a copy of the Lexicon next to his desk—and a meticulous appendix by Mort’s son Brian Walker, who delves deep into the visual language of comics.
With the help of The Lexicon of Comicana, you’ll come away a better, wiser, richer, and funnier artist. Plus, you’ll learn what a “Morf” is—Mort’s favorite part.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3454398-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3454398-2
