Fifty years ago, a wayward young college student named Beetle Bailey accidentally enrolled into the U.S. Army and became one of the most loved pop culture icons of the 20th century. This year, King Features Syndicate, which distributes the Beetle Bailey comic strip, Beetle's creator, Mort Walker, and Dark Horse Comics celebrate the ongoing legacy of the irrepressible young grunt and his wacky military peers with a series of exclusive 50th Anniversary collectibles and books.

The treasure-laden tribute commences in August with the release of Dark Horse's Beetle Bailey deluxe shot glass set, featuring full-color images of Beetle, Sarge and General Halftrack on a set of three high-quality drinking vessels. Each set of these cheery collectibles comes packaged in a colorful, custom-designed box and retails for $19.95.

September brings even more fun for Beetle fans, as Dark Horse introduces a unique line of book-and-figure sets and a limited-edition watch specifically created for this landmark year. We've collected the best strips representing your favorite Beetle Bailey characters--Beetle, Sarge, General Halftrack, and Miss Buxley--and have given each character his (or Miss Buxley's) own book. These sets also include a detailed PVC statue of the featured character.

The Beetle Bailey commemorative timepiece is a stunning, all-metal, bullet-shaped pocket watch featuring Beetle's gregarious grin, and packaged in a collectible box, suitable for display and storage. Unlike most of our perennial private's three-day passes, this watch is the real deal, and it comes packaged with a certificate of authenticity to prove it.

Join Dark Horse, Hearst Entertainment, King Features Syndicate, and Mort Walker in our 50th Anniversary celebration of Beetle Bailey.

Created by Mort Walker, the Dean of American Cartoonists, Beetle Bailey was first introduced September 4, 1950, and has become one of the most widely circulated comics in the world. Each day, more than 200 million people read about the famous work-shirking Army private in more than 1,800 newspapers. According to a 1999 survey by the Chicago Tribune, Beetle Bailey is the #1 regularly read comic and the #2 regularly read Sunday comic. Having served as both an enlisted man and an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II, many of Walker's hilarious characters are based on the people he met and served with during the war.

Hearst Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, is a leading producer and distributor of made-for-television movies, animated series and reality documentary programming for the global marketplace and markets and licenses the ancillary consumer products of these entertainment properties.

King Features Syndicate, part of the Hearst Entertainment and Syndication Group, is the largest distributor of comics strips, panels and editorial features to newspapers worldwide.