US publisher Hermes Press has announced plans for The Life and Art of Mort Walker, a book dedicated to the creator of army newspaper strip “Beetle Bailey”, whose adventures also featured in Britain’s TV Comic (albeit drawn by different hands, including Mike Noble and Roland Davies).
Mort Walker, the “Dean of American Cartooning”, who died in 2018 aged 94, left behind a legacy that extended far beyond his “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois” fame. For the first time ever, Hermes Press and Bill Janocha, Walker’s assistant, present a rare selection of gags and art from Walker’s early years, before Beetle-mania took over the world.
The planned book, due for release in June, also being promoted as Birth Of A Beetle – The Magazine Cartoons of Mort Walker on bookseller sites such as AmazonUK, will be launched via a Kickstarter campaign that will offer a Limited Edition variant. It contains examples of the work he did prior to Beetle Bailey, and explores the evolution of his style and showcases his many gags, from his early comics in Showme magazine to the work he did for the Saturday Evening Post.
This tome will also contains historical essays detailing his life and career, up until his death in 2018, as written by Janocha.
“This special project has been nine years in the making,” say Hermes, “and is something any fan of Mort Walker will need to own.”
Born in 1959 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Bill Janocha is an American cartoonist, recognised by the National Cartoonists Society with a Silver T-Square Award in 1996, and comic historian. He worked as Mort Walker’s assistant on the newspaper comics “Beetle Bailey” and “Gamin and Patches”.
Bill graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in Illustration in 1981 and subsequently worked as an inker for Walt Disney Productions for seven months in 1982. He was a storyboard and character design artist for the Broadcast Arts studio in New York, working on children’s TV shows like Pee Wee’s Playhouse (1986) and the animated intro of the film Who’s That Girl (1987) starring Madonna.
Janocha became Mort Walker’s assistant on “Beetle Bailey” in 1987, and has remained a staff artist at Comicana, Inc. since. He has contributed to the newspaper strip by Mort and Greg Walker, but has also worked on licensing projects, books, special art and comic books related to America’s laziest Army private, and was storyboard supervisor of the 1989 Beetle Bailey TV film. He was also assistant and then ghost artist of Walker’s short-lived feature Gamin and Patches, that was syndicated by United Features in 1987 and 1988. The series revolved around a homeless boy, Gamin, and his moustached dog Patches.
As a comic historian, Janocha has done work for museum exhibitions, and written articles for magazines about comic art, such as Hogan’s Alley, Nemo and Comicana. He also helped develop the US 1995 “Comic Strip Classics” stamp set.
Hermes Press, launched in 2000, is one of a handful of US publishers which exclusively produces books and comic strip reprints focusing on the art and artists of the comics, cartoon and comic strips, pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s, art books covering science fiction, and popular culture.
• Check out the Kickstarter Project Page here and sign up for a notification of launch
• Bill Janocha is online at billjanocha.com | Follow Bill on Facebook | Lambiek Profile
• Mort Walker’s “Beetle Bailey” in Britain
• New York Times: Mort Walker, Creator of ‘Beetle Bailey’ Comic Strip, Dies at 94
• The Cartoonist Group: Background to Mort Walker
Beetle Bailey and Popeye © King Features
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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