Addison Mort Walker is a comic strip illustrator and writer, best known for creating Beetle Bailey and its spin-off, Hi and Lois. Walker was born in 1923 in El Dorado, Kansas.  He was drafted into the Army in 1943 and discharged as a first lieutenant four years later.  After graduating from the University of Missouri, he moved to New York City to pursue a career as a cartoonist. His break came in 1950 when King Features picked up Beetle Bailey for syndication. The comic strip started with low syndication numbers as a college-based scenario, but when Beetle joined the Army in 1951, 200 newspapers ran the strip.  In 1954, Walker joined with Dik Browne to create a spin-off strip, focusing on Beetle's sister Lois and her family. Walker's use of high-contrast images with simple scenarios and simple gags helped set a standard still used by cartoonists today.  He has published numerous paperback collections of his comic strips, in addition to writing children's books and books on art history. Sources Cited: Mort's Biography, www.mortwalker.com/mwinfo.html; Cartoonist Mort Walker Explains his Beetle Bailey Comics, http://laughingsquid.com/cartoonist-mort-walker-explains-his-beetle-bailey-comics, Sept. 12, 2001  ; Mort Walker conversations. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005.

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