Summary: The 8-page story begins with a simple delivery to General Halftrack. As Beetle makes his way through the compound with a box of food, Colonel Grimshaw shows the General a photograph of top Russian spy, Boris Popoffsky. Of course, the enemy agent is a dead ringer for Beetle and our poor hero is quickly arrested and threatened with the firing squad! Luckily the real Russian agent is captured on a jet bound for Germany, and interrogators go to work on him off-screen to get useful information about his operation. With Beetle's identity cleared, the government boys realize they can now use him to trap Popoffsky's network. Beetle finds himself on a mission to Berlin! Continues below.
Beetle's contact man leads him to a secret rendezvous, where the enemy is hiding in a tunnel under the wall. Agent Beetle doses them with tear gas and helps the Secret Service and Military Police capture the spy ring. The story includes some elements that function well as a time capsule, like US agents in black suits and hats, spies in trench coats, Beetle's disguise as a European sailor-type, and early commentary on the quality of life at the Wall. As Beetle looks at an East Berlin checkpoint, sporting the slogan of the so-called "Workers' Paradise" and teeming with barbed wire, water hoses, and a tank, he declares, "It's a mighty grim-looking paradise!" He seems to capture the popular response that many had at the time, suggesting that East Germany couldn't have been such an ideological utopia if its citizens were desperate to escape. See below for additional panels from Beetle Bailey #38 and further information.
Are you interested in the history of comics and about how comics are made? Mort Walker began his cartooning career as a boy in the 1930s and has gone on to become one of the most syndicated cartoonists in the history of the medium. Two of his strips, Beetle Bailey and Hi & Lois, have been seen in comic books and newspapers around the world for over 60 years. My 2005 book, Mort Walker Conversations, features interviews with Walker from 1938-2004, as well as reproductions of rare panels and strips. You can order the book directly by contacting me at spyvibe[at]gmail.com or from Amazon here.
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