By Dik Browne
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN: 978-1-848562332
I did a review for what I thought was the first volume in this series a little while ago. Whoops. This is the first volume, collecting all the daily strips from Hagar's first appearance in 1973 through to 1974. And what's so startling is how instantly the strip, or more accurately Dik Browne, gets the characters, settings and sense of humour just right. There isn't any sense of tweaking or refining, but instead Hagar and his world arrive fully formed on to the page. In truth, Dik Browne was already an established strip cartoonist, so he didn't need to adjust to the disciplines or discover the pit-falls of producing a regular panel cartoon, but it does still seem a remarkable accomplishment.
There's a loving forward from Chris and Chance Brown, once again fuelling the idea that if you'd ever met Dik Browne you were pretty sure you'd have got on with him. There's also discussion of his extra-thick gloopy ink that he preferred, created to help his strip stand out on the printed page amongst the others. How he executes those bold lines keeps me hovering over his strips for so long that, to an observer, it must look like I'm having trouble with my reading.
There are countless wonderful gags in here, poking fun at family, travel, work, marriage, love, war, fashion and mermaids, and all from a mild-mannered barbarian's perspective – or should that be Viking's viewpoint? Get your copy now.
And if you liked that: A Wizard of Id collection along the same lines is on its way.
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