Dik Brown Dies at 71

Dik Browne, famed creator of the Hagar the Horrible comic strip, died June 4 at the Sarasota (Florida) Memorial Hospital after a protracted battle with cancer. Equally famous as the artist of Hi and Lois, Browne was 71.

The only cartoonist named Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society for two different strips (in 1962 for Hi and Lois, and in 1973 for Hagar the Horrible), Richard Arthur Allan Browne was born August 11, 1918 in New York City. Browne entered the newspaper field early as a newsboy for the New York Journal, making the traditional climb to staff artist (he drew mostly maps and charts). During that time, he began studies at Cooper Union, but abandoned them for lack of funds. He joined Newsweek as an illustrator in 1941, but was drafted the following year (shortly after his marriage). According to most reports, Browne first took up cartooning seriously while in the Army.

Upon returning to civilian life in 1946, Browne joined the Johnstone & Cushing advertising agency, devising Chiquita Banana for the United Fruit Company, and redesigning the Campbell Soup Kids. This work brought him to the attention of Beetle Bailey creator-artist Mort Walker, and to a new career as one of America's most cherished comic strip cartoonists.

The oft-told story goes like this: At the end of the Korean War, Walker hoped to shift Beetle Bailey from a military to a college milieu, but encountered firm resistance from King Features Syndicate. To test the waters, he introduced Beetle's sister Lois Flagston, her husband Hi, and their troop of kids into the strip. When readers clamored for Beetle's return to Army life, the syndicate suggested Walker begin a new strip with the family characters. King Comics Editor Sylvan Byck and Walker immediately began looking for artists (Walker insisted he could not write and draw both strips).

"We decided we would look for the best artist in America," Walker told the Journal. "So we both agreed to make a list of artists and compare notes."

Even Walker describes what happened next as "really amazing."

While visiting his dentist, Byck discovered the Browne-drawn Tracy Twins in an issue of Boy's Life; Walker in the meantime came across a Mounds candy bar advertisement Browne had done through the Johnstone & Cushing agency. When the two met to compare notes, Browne, who neither had met, topped both their lists.

"It was really amazing." Walker recalled, "because I had never even met the guy. We got in touch with him right away." Hi and Lois, written by Walker and drawn by Browne, premiered in October 1954.

Despite the strip's slow but steady success (it now appears in some 1,100 newspapers worldwide), Browne was compelled to create his most famous work because of family health problems and resultant medical needs.

According to a report in the February 27, 1988, Editor & Publisher, "several members of Dik's and [his wife] Joan's families died or got very sick during a one-year period, and Browne's income as the artist for Hi and Lois wasn't quite enough to cover the bills. The cartoonist figured that a new comic attracting about 100 newspaper clients would do the trick."

So, in 1971, Browne descended to his basement workshop and emerged after four hours, so the story goes, with Hagar the Horrible -- a lovable Viking beset by the woes of family life, named after a wisecrack by one of Browne's two sons, Christopher and Bob (family lore doesn't identify the quipster).

By the time the strip premiered in February 1973, had attracted about 200 subscribers. That number tripled by 1975, passed the 1,000 mark in 1978, and today remains as high as 1,800 newspapers in 58 countries, according to King Features Syndicate.

Hagar readers often commented that the scruffy-bearded, bearish Browne strongly resembled his good-natured Viking curmudgeon, and Browne, while always insistent Hagar was not himself (Browne was Irish-American, not Scandinavian, after all), agreed that, "We're both noticeably lacking in kempt, and we're both a little mystified by the world."

In later years, Browne was honored with the Elzie Segar Award "for outstanding contribution to the art of cartooning" by the National Cartoonists Society, which he had served as president from 1963 to 1965.

Because of Browne's failing eyesight and poor health, his sons had increasingly assisted on the strips, Chris drawing Hagar, and Bob drawing Hi and Lois to the writing of Brian Walker (son of Mort). The sons will continue with both strips.

The dapper Walker once said of his relationship with Browne, "We're certainly the Odd Couple of cartooning. The only thing we have in common is friendship." At the time of his long-time collaborator's death, Walker told the Journal. "We were the best of friends for 35 years. We spoke on the phone just about every other day."

According to Editor & Publisher, a private service was held for Browne June 7 in Sarasota, and a memorial service is scheduled for August I1 in Connecticut (where the Brownes lived for many years). Browne is survived by his two sons, and a daughter, Sally. The family requests that donations, in lieu of flowers, be made to the Joan Browne Fund, c/o the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Foundation, Waldemere St., Sarasota FL 34239.