Hägar the Horrible

Hägar the Horrible
Hägar the Horrible
Author(s)	Dik Browne (1973–88) Chris Browne (1989–present)
Current status / schedule	Running
Launch date	February 4, 1973
Syndicate(s)	King Features Syndicate
Genre(s)	Humor, Gag-a-day

Hägar the Horrible is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne (1917–1989), and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973, and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirement in 1988 (and subsequent death), his son Chris Browne has continued the strip. As of 2010, Hägar is distributed to 1,900 newspapers in 56 countries and translated into 12 languages. The strip is a caricature commenting modern day life in America through a loose interpretation of Viking Age Scandinavian life.

"Hagar the Terrible" was the nickname given to the late Dik Browne by his sons; Browne adapted the name to Hägar the Horrible for the purposes of alliteration. After his death Dik Browne's sons changed the title of the strip to Dik Browne's Hägar the Horrible in tribute. The name is pronounced Hay-gar by Chris Browne.

Hägar (sometimes written "Hagar") is a shaggy, scruffy, overweight, red-bearded Viking. He regularly raids England and sometimes France. Animation-industry writer Terence J. Sacks notes the juxtaposition of contrary qualities that make Hägar endearing to the reader: "Hägar's horned helmet, rough beard and shaggy tunic make him look somewhat like a caveman or primitive viking, but you also know Hägar has a soft underbelly occasionally exposed."

The strip is set in the Middle Ages in an unnamed coastal village somewhere in Norway. Hägar's Norwegian lineage was revealed at least once in a daily strip (July 18, 1984). Hamlet asks Hägar if he can tell people they're Norwegian. Hägar replies that it isn't necessary: "It might sound like bragging."

Although anachronisms are not unknown, they are not deliberate mainstays of the strip, as in other period burlesque strips like The Wizard of Id. The strip follows a standard gag-a-day daily format with an extended color sequence on Sundays.