Dik Browne

Who was Dik Browne?

Dik Browne was born Richard Arthur Allan Browne in New York City. He was a popular cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing Hägar the Horrible and for drawing Hi and Lois.

Browne attended Cooper Union and got his start at the New York Journal American as a copy boy and later worked in the art department. He joined the army, producing work for the engineering unit and created Jinny Jeep, a comic strip about the Women's Army Corps.

In the 1940s, he worked as an illustrator for Newsweek as well as for an advertising company, where he created the trademark logo for Chiquita.

In 1954, Browne and cartoonist Mort Walker co-created the comic strip Hi and Lois, a spin-off of Walker's popular Beetle Bailey strip, featuring Beetle's sister, brother-in-law and their family. Walker wrote the strip, which Browne illustrated until his death. The series is now drawn by his son Chance and written by Walker's sons. In 1973, Browne created Hägar the Horrible about an ill-mannered red-bearded medieval viking. The comic is now produced by his son Chris. Both strips have been successful, appearing in hundreds of newspapers for decades.