Browne, Dik

Richard Arthur Allan Browne (1917-1989), known as Dik Browne, was an American cartoonist. He was the creator of the newspaper comic strip Hagar the Horrible, and co-creator with Mort Walker of the comic strip Hi and Lois .

Born in New York City in 1917, Browne studied at Cooper Union Art School. His first job was as a copy boy with the New York Journal-American, but he was soon transferred to the art department in recognition of his doodles. After a brief stint with Newsweek creating maps and charts, Browne joined the army where he did similar work for an engineering unit and created the comic strip Ginny Jeep about a WAC.

After the war, Browne worked for Johnson & Cushing in advertising, where he created such well-known icons as the Chiquita banana, the Birdseye bird, and an updated version of the Campbell Soup kids. At the same time he began drawing The Tracy Twins for Boy's Life . His work caught the attention of King Features Syndicate, who invited him to collaborate with Mort Walker on a new comic strip entitled Hi and Lois in 1954.

In 1973 Browne created the lovable Viking Hagar the Horrible, which sold to over 600 papers in its first two years and eventually reaching more than 1800 papers in 58 countries. In his later years his two sons, Robert and Chris, contributed to the strip and continued it after his death in 1989.

The National Cartoonists Society recognized Browne several times by over his career, awarding him Best Humor Strip six times (1959, 1960, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1986) and Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, also known as the Reuben Award, twice (1962, 1973). Several collections of Browne's work have been published and he has illustrated inspirational books by Bishop Fulton Sheen and children's books by Mort Walker.

Dik Browne was born Richard Arthur Allen Browne in 1917. He attended Cooper Union for one year, then became a copyboy and then staff artist 1936-1942. In 1942, he was drafted into the US Army and served for four years in World War II. From 1946 to 1954, he was an artist for an advertising agency. In 1954, he began drawing for the cartoon strip Hi and Lois and continued til his death in 1989. In 1973, he began drawing for the comic strip Hagar the Horrible and also drew that strip until 1989.

Biographical Source: Something About the Author, v. 67, pp. 31-38.