Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the Mort Walker and Dik Browne’s comic strip Hi and Lois. The strip was created by Mort and Dik. The feature is now created by Mort?s sons, writers Brian Walker and Greg Walker and Dik?s son, artist Chance Browne (assisted by artist Eric Reaves). This week, the creators have been running a ?Then and Now? series making light of how things have changed in the decades when the strip launched and today.
The strip is a spin-off from Mort’s Beetle Bailey strip. From the press release:
The story of Hi and Lois begins at the close of the Korean War, when Mort Walker sent the Army?s most famous work-shirking private back home to try civilian life in his Beetle Bailey comic strip. In a 1954 strip, Beetle?s home front family started speculating about his possible post-war path. His sister, Lois, thought he should follow her example by getting married and starting a family. As it turned out, Beetle?s fans felt differently: they wanted Beetle back in his Army uniform. He was quickly returned to Camp Swampy, where he has remained ever since. But Beetle?s brief yet fateful furlough provided the inspiration for Hi and Lois, and six months later, Beetle?s sister and her family began starring in their own spin-off comic-strip adventure.
You can follow the series on Comics Kingdom or on the strips official website.
What a great team of creators – I’ve always enjoyed Hi and Lois.
Congrats, Mort! Learn more about the creation of “Hi & Lois,” “Beetle Bailey” and more in this Mr. Media podcast interview with Mort Walker: http://mrmedia.com/2007/11/mort-walker-beetle-bailey-hi-lois-cartoonist-mr-media-interview-part-1/#.VELsMOffHAQ