Mort Walker is the creator of Beetle Bailey. A forthcoming volume of the first two years of Beetle Bailey is coming next month. Condition of the Show: Observing fifty years of development. Author: Mort Walker Subjects Discussed: [List forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: Here we have a military strip. But there s no reference to Iraq. And I wanted to ask you about this kind of balance. Walker: I try to avoid anything controversial. Because if you do something pro-Bush, fifty percent of your readers are going to get mad, fifty percent of your readers might like it. But I m after the whole broad spectrum. So I m really avoid those things. Correspondent: But to talk about the broader audience, I mean, Bush s approval rating isn t exactly the best in the world. It s under 30%. So you have 70% of the audience if you were to play around with this kind of thing. Walker: Yeah. Well, anyway, I try not to get too topical or controversial. That s why I ve avoided the war pretty much. I don t mention Iraq very much. Very seldom. Correspondent: Even though this war has lasted longer than World War II? I mean, doesn t it seem ? Walker: But there s so many people that are angry about it that I ve got to be really careful about how I treat it. Mostly, I just ignore it. People say, Well, when is Beetle going to go to Iraq? I said, Jesus Christ. I hope never! You know, I don t want to send him there because it s very difficult to deal with. I m just keeping him in basic training. It s the common experience that all soldiers have. If I take him out somewhere and specify into some particular kind of work, I ll lose a lot of my readers there. They won t be interested or they won t understand it. But everybody understands basic training. That s where I keep him. Correspondent: I mean, you had this similar situation with Jack Flap. That s why I present this as well. I mean, that didn t hurt you. In fact, that got Beetle Bailey more attention, you know? Walker: Yeah, but it was a common experience. Anyway, that hasn t hurt me.
