BALTIMORE — Comic creator Mort Walker knew he was on to something when he brought a computer technician into Beetle Bailey's world and asked fans for their input. He got 84,324 replies — mostly e-mails, of course.

        Mr. Walker, who started drawing Beetle, Gen. Halftrack and Sarge in 1950, soon understood just how much computers have permeated our lives. Many fans had ideas for gags, including the old joke of struggling for hours to repair a computer that — surprise! — is unplugged.

        He was looking for a new character who would epitomize the expanding technology. So he asked readers to submit names, and he came up with a winner: “Chip Gizmo” will appear July 4 at Camp Swampy.

        The suggestion came from those who know the subject well — information technology specialists at the State Department, where Mr. Walker made his announcement Tuesday.

        Mr. Walker, an Army veteran, had help in picking the winner from 10 chief information officers from the military and the U.S. Department of Labor.

        He found the techs to be earnestly nerdy, proud of their jobs and their work, he said. However, the king of Army pranks discovered that these military employees did not necessarily want to be made into a joke.

        So Mr. Walker shifted his concept of Army Specialist Chip Gizmo, making him more of a likable character than an annoying know-it-all. And he gave him lots of gadgets. Spiky-haired, cross-eyed, rumpled Gizmo appears with phone antennae, curling wires and earpieces poking out of his Army fatigues.

        He's around 30 and will live in his own world — with a mind swirling in cyberspace. At the same time, the other characters will live more like Mr. Walker, reflecting the generations of World War II and Korea.

        Earl Hemminger, one of the four State Department workers who used their lunch hour to come up with Chip Gizmo's name, said he's not offended by the stereotype.

        “If I wore my uniform and spiked my hair, I would look just like that guy,” he said, laughing. “We're all computer nerds.”

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