NEW YORK—The world of bubblegum- related comics was forever changed Monday, when, after more than 50 years, the Bazooka Joe supporting character known as "Mort" finally revealed the lower half of his face to be a grotesque mask of third-degree burns.

The controversial strip which has left millions of gum-chewers feeling uneasy.

The eye-opening strip, unveiled earlier this week by the Topps Company, is being called the darkest, most compelling installment in the entire Bazooka Joe series. In the strip, a wisecracking Mort pulls down his trademark red turtleneck and, for the first time, exposes millions of readers to the jumbled mass of flesh and bone that lies beneath it.

"Readers will never look at Mort or, for that matter, any of the other Bazooka Joe characters the same way again," said noted bubblegum-art historian and author Phillip Weissenthal. "This changes everything—Mort's relationship with Jane, the time he and Bazooka Joe went to the zoo together, his fervent dislike of Metaldude. It's a paradigmatic shift on a scale never before seen in bubblegum literature."

"That face," Weissenthal continued. "God, that scarred and blistered face."

According to sources at Topps, the shocking revelation represents five decades of careful planning on the part of the strip's many artists...