Hagar the Horrible

Hagar the Horrible broke all records when it was launched on Feb. 4, 1973, becoming the fasting growing comic strip ever.  

The strip was created by Hi and Lois artist, Dik Browne, in his basement art studio/laundry room in Connecticut.  The strip’s title was the family nickname for Dik Browne and the characters were loosely based on Dik’s family and friends.

The little red-bearded Viking has appeared in advertisements for IBM, Mug Root Beer, Skol Ale and in the opening titles for the TV show Caroline in the City, which starred actress Lea Thompson as a successful female cartoonist.  Hagar has appeared on his own CBS special and is featured in Universal’s Islands of Adventure: Toon Lagoon theme park.

The strip now appears in about 1,900 newspapers around the world.  It appears in 45 countries and is translated into 13 languages and is now drawn by Dik’s son, Chris Browne.

The Creators

Chris Browne

Chris Browne was born in South Orange, NJ, in 1952 and grew up in suburban Wilton, CT. The son of award-winning cartoonist Dik Browne, he assisted his father on the comic strips Hi and Lois and Hagar the Horrible. He contributed gag writing to Hagar the Horriblefrom its inception in 1972.

With his father, Chris co-authored Hagar the Horrible's Very Nearly Complete Viking Handbook in 1985. When Dik Browne retired in 1988, Chris continued to write and draw the strip.

In addition to Hagar the Horrible, Chris Browne has contributed cartoons to National Lampoon, Playboy, Esquire, Heavy Metal and The New Yorker.  He created the comic strip Raising Duncan and he was a contributing editor to Sarasota Magazine.  

Chris' brother Chance Browne draws Hi and Lois and his son-in-law, Dan Piraro writes and draws the King Features panel cartoon Bizarro.

Chris Browne now lives in Sioux Falls, SD, with his wife Carroll Browne and three ultra cute dogs- two Chihuahuas and a Scotty!

Between Friends

Between Friends zeroes in on the delicious little nitty-gritty details of the lives of three forty-something women friends.  Office politics, motherhood, romance and the pros and cons of Botox…nothing is sacred between Maeve, Susan and Kim in this contemporary, caffeinated and humorous woman-to-woman world.

Maeve is a sophisticated, savvy divorcee who’s at the top of her game in her career as a sales executive.  She wants to meet “Mr. Right”…eventually. Right now, she’s having too much fun skipping from one romantic escapade to the other. Susan is wry and self-doubting. She’s married to a funeral director named Harv, has an adopted daughter named Emma and is always two steps behind her life.  Kim is married to Derek and mom to her stepson, Danny.  As a freelance writer, she enjoys the perks of a flexible career…like irregular paychecks.

Witty and personal, sometimes poignant and candid, this slice-of-life strip celebrates the essence of women in all their stress-filled, scintillating glory.

Between Friends appears in more than 175 newspapers including the Toronto Star,Seattle Times, Cleveland Plain-Dealer and Arizona Republic and in 10 countries as far and wide as Australia, India, South Africa and Gua

The Creators

Sandra Bell-Lundy

Canadian Sandra Bell-Lundy began her career as a cartoonist by creating comics for her university campus newspaper, a women's networking newsletter and newspaper ads.

After developing a cartoon strip, which was loosely based on a group of her friends, she self-syndicated to a number of southern Ontario dailies for four years. Between Friendscelebrates the essence and angst of three contemporary, forty-something women friends: Susan, Maeve and Kim.

In 1994, Between Friends attracted the attention of King Features and is now syndicated to newspapers worldwide. Between Friends has been collected in two anthologies, Hello, Daughter (Plan Nine Publishing) and Coffee, Tea and Reality(Andrews and McMeel).

Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle - Having Fun in a Changing World

Arctic Circle is about three penguins who have migrated from the Antarctic to the small town of Snowpeak within the Arctic Circle.

The penguins have joined a polar bear, a snow bunny, a lemming and an Arctic tern. Collectively, they deal with everything the 21st century has to throw at them, including climate change, fashion, Facebook and genetically modified organisms gone wild.

Arctic Circle was nominated for Best Comic Strip at the Australian Cartoonists' Association’s Stanley Awards in 2009 and 2010.

The Creators

Alex Hallatt

After getting a degree in biochemistry and working seven years in the pharmaceutical industry, Alex Hallatt got her first newspaper cartoonist job in 1999. She worked for Brighton, UK's daily newspaper for four years, creating a topical cartoon panel and a daily comic strip. In 2003, she emigrated from the UK to New Zealand. Arctic Circle was syndicated by King Features in 2007. In 2008, Alex crossed the ditch to live in Melbourne, Australia.

When she is not toiling away at the drawing board, Hallatt is a keen hiker, camper, cyclist, composter and wild-water swimme

Amazing Spider-Man

It was on the pages of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 where the Amazing Spider-Man first appeared. And in March 1963, one year after his first appearance, Spider-Man was starring in his own comic book and on his way to becoming Marvel Comics' most popular super hero ever!

Through the years, Spider-Man has also been a superpower in the world of licensing, appearing in paperback books, on posters, as an action figure, and in video games. And in addition to his licensing ventures, Spider-Man is also capturing bad guys in a hit animated TV show.

In 1977, Spider-Man began starring in his own newspaper strip written by his creator, Stan Lee. "The Amazing Spider-Man" can be seen in newspapers worldwide, and was a part of the first-ever comic strip/comic book crossover story.

In the summer of 2002, Spider-Man swung onto the silver screen and broke box office records with its massive first weekend receipts. Based upon the freak accident that miraculously granted Peter Parker with his incredible spider-like abilities, the movie starring Tobey Maguire became a smash hit with audiences worldwide. The sequel is scheduled for release in the summer of 2004.

The Creators

Stan Lee

Known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Stan Lee's famous co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange, among many others. Lee first became publisher of Marvel Comics in 1972 and is presently the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics. In 1977, he introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip that went on to become one of the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips. Spider-Man now appears in more than 500 newspapers worldwide making it the longest running of all Super Hero strips.

Without question, Stan "the Man" Lee has exerted enormous influence over the comic book industry through his many years. He had a hand in creating many of Marvel's most recognized characters, the majority of which have been successfully licensed and marketed since 1965. The numbers are impressive more than 2 billion of his comic books have been published in 75 countries and in 25 languages. In Europe alone, Stan Lee's name appears on over 35 million comics annually. Each year, X-Men sells more than 13 million copies.

In 1981 Stan Lee transformed his Spider-Man and Hulk creations into Saturday morning and syndicated television cartoons. When Marvel Comics and Marvel Productions were acquired by New World Entertainment in 1986, Stan's horizons expanded even further, giving him the opportunity to become more deeply involved in the creation and development of filmed projects for both the big and small screen. He supervised such diverse animated series as X-Men, Spider-Man and The Hulk. To date, Stan's characters have populated over 24 separate television series, all of which continue in syndication around the world.