Trust me, I’m a grad school dropout
Hagar the Horrible, 2/28/05
Okay, so I don’t claim to have any special insight into the creative process over at Hagar the Horrible Central, but I think the line of thought that led to today’s comic went something like this:
- Come up with uproarious joke involving cannibal natives and Hagar and Lucky Eddie in a big cast-iron pot.
- Realize that cannibal natives don’t fit into the carefully constructed and meticulously researched ninth-century AD European milieu of the strip.*
- Refuse to give up on joke because, I mean, you’ve already thought of it, and golf doesn’t just play itself.
- Replace cannibal natives with random medieval-looking knights/villagers; replace pot with stakes.
- Taste the hilarity!
*Yes, sometimes Hagar and Lucky Eddie are stranded on what appear to be tropical islands. I say they’re in the Mediterranean, off the coast of North Africa. The historical accuracy of Hagar the Horrible is not to be impugned! Feel free to impugn its humor level, though, because that’s generally very, very low.
onetwothree
February 28th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
I just don’t think it’s funny.
yaddayadda
February 28th, 2005 at 11:52 pm
You are clearly a bitter, humorless person, onetwothree, unable to particpate in the great zest for life, simple human joy and Vikings expressed by today’s Hagar the Horrible.
Or possibly it really isn’t funny.
Josh
February 28th, 2005 at 11:54 pm
It’s certainly not funny, but I have to give Chris Browne some props for the sinister black smoke looming above. Dare I call a Hagar panel “atmospheric”?
I would note, however, that only a small part of the smoke seems to be coming from the torches.
Jefe
March 1st, 2005 at 12:30 am
You know, when I read this this morning, I thought to myself, “How is Hagar going to get out of this one?” Then I realized that there won’t be any story to how he gets out of this predicament, just as there wasn’t a story as to how he got in it.
I’ve been enjoying Pearls Before Swine lately. The oven mitt gag today was just so silly, I couldn’t help but crack up at it.
Matt Estes
March 1st, 2005 at 1:16 am
I don’t know what it is you people were expecting. Now, if the strip was called “Hagar The Hilarious”, I can see why you might feel a little bit cheated.
frippy
March 1st, 2005 at 4:19 am
Oh no, is this the end of Hagar and Eddie?! :(
luluchappel
March 1st, 2005 at 8:22 am
Yeah, the smoke…it looks like it’s from grenades or defective fireworks or something. Are they in China?
Uccellina
March 1st, 2005 at 12:06 pm
I think I like the bad comics more than the good ones, nowadays; I read them in the paper and immediately start looking forward to the CC commentary.
REB
March 1st, 2005 at 1:46 pm
i like how the villagers don’t even look angry as they’re rushing forward with their torches. they look happy, like college kids rushing the field after their team wins the Big Game.
John Munsch
March 1st, 2005 at 4:55 pm
>You know, when I read this this morning, I
>thought to myself, “How is Hagar going to get
>out of this one?†Then I realized that there
>won’t be any story to how he gets out of this
>predicament, just as there wasn’t a story as to
>how he got in it.
And that is just a tragedy. Why couldn’t Hagar the Horrible become a strip like the Thimble Theatre of the 20’s and 30’s? Segar took that and made long stories with weird little characters who went on insane little adventures and it was all great stuff. Why can’t Hagar become what Popeye once was?
Flasshe
March 1st, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Why can’t Hagar become what Popeye once was?
Ummm… just a wild guess here, but maybe because of lack of talent/motivation on the part of the cartoonist? And the few readers who actually like the strip would probably be up in arms.
Blockade Boy
March 1st, 2005 at 7:39 pm
I agree with Mister Munsch’s sentiments. I’d love to see a humorous adventure strip along the lines of the original Popeye (or even the Depression era “Nancy”) but I just don’t see it happening. I think strip editors don’t believe in their audience’s attention span, plus the strips themselves are shorter and tinier than they used to be. As for Hagar, I loved it as a kid. But I think it “jumped the shark” maybe twenty years ago, with a Sunday strip that strenuously explained that Hagar and his pals were all Christians who wore the historical “Thor’s hammer” version of the cross. I don’t know why the cartoonist deemed this important. I guess he figured nobody could possibly enjoy a comic strip about pagans! Ah, well.
Zipper the mule
March 1st, 2005 at 9:31 pm
Ok people, step back, nothing to see here. In a day or two Hagar will come waltzing in to his wife wondering what’s for dinner, with a big bag of loot that implies he over ran the villagers, raped the women and stole everything not nailed down. Then it’s back down to the pub where he and Eddie will regale…no one…with stories of their adventures.
And suddenly I have to wonder, who the hell is in this stip? Hagar, his wife, Eddie, the doctor and the bartender. Who else is there? Do they have names? Oh crap, now another strip I’m going to actually start reading after losing interest 15 years ago.
Sue
March 2nd, 2005 at 12:55 am
Who else is there? Well, there’s Hagar’s daughter Honi and her boyfriend, Lute. And don’t forget Snert.
Francois Mitterand
March 2nd, 2005 at 1:15 am
There’s the boat. It’s an active respondent to many jokes – crossed eyes in frustration, wide in anticipation, etc.
Matt Estes
March 2nd, 2005 at 3:30 am
Other cast members include Hagar’s gay son Hamlet, who, according to the King Features website, is “a mystery to his father” and “would rather make a daisy chain than take up chain mail”, and who is always getting picked on by girls; Kvack the duck, the only character in the entire strip to have a Nordic accent (because we all know that no good viking is ever without his pet duck. Must be why we so seldom see Hagar’s); Dr. Zook; Hagar’s mother-in-law, who’s viking helmet has moose antlers on it instead of horns; and a wise old guru, who’s definitely in B.C. and may or may not also be in this strip, I can’t for one hundred percent remember off hand. (hey, if Hagar and Wizard of Id can both have Attila the Hun as a reoccurring (but never seen) character, then why can’t Hagar and B.C. share a useless, nameless old man?)
Cody Hurley
March 2nd, 2005 at 3:53 am
Hagar will get out this predicament, just as he always does. He and Lucky Eddie will return home, never sharing the details of his adventure — because it’s not the Viking way.
Flasshe
March 2nd, 2005 at 11:40 am
From these comments, I’m beginning to think the cast of Hagar the Horrible have richer inner lives than I do, and it’s scaring me.
Spugnology
April 8th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
Well, me, when I saw this strip, it wasn’t cannibals that came to mind. Comic-strip cannibals boil you in pots while salting you with modern salt shakers.
No, when I saw the strip, the first thing I thought was: crucifixion, which definitely wouldn’t play in Peoria, so it had to be dumbed down to mere burning at the stake, as if they’re witches in Salem or something. Pffft.
nemoErensenuT
February 9th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
Tatiana
October 30th, 2008 at 10:47 am
very interesting post..great comments!