Archive: Hagar the Horrible

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Hagar the Horrible, 9/5/25

Real Hagar heads know that Hagar is illiterate, and while Lucky Eddie also was at one point, he later learned to read and write. I suppose it’s possible that he was inspired to learn languages beyond his native Norse — Greek, for instance, which would be useful for reading the scriptures of the new religion from the south, and which he could pick up from Swedish kinsmen who served in the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. This knowledge may have led him to see that streak of light in the sky and dub it asteroeidēs, or “star-like.” Unfortunately, 18th century astronomer William Herschel will ultimately get the credit for coining the term, because the only person to hear Eddie say it was Hagar, and he said it right before they were both vaporized.

Six Chix, 9/5/25

OK, fine, I’ve said my piece about how most comics really lay too hard on the relationship between dogs and fire hydrants, but to their credit, at least they know what that relationship is (it’s pissing). Today’s Six Chix, on the other hand … have they watched Doctor Who? I guess you don’t draw this detailed a version of the 11th Doctor in dog form, and of his TARDIS in fire hydrant form, without having watched some Doctor Who. I myself have watched quite a bit of Doctor Who, and before today I would’ve said that the Doctor did not as a rule piss on his TARDIS, but now I admit I’m starting to doubt myself.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 9/5/25

Really loving Cody’s facial expression in the last panel here. “Hey, man, you can say that, but I know I was just kind of pushing on his chest imitating what I’ve seen on TV, probably inaccurately. The paramedics saved him, it’s OK to say so. No need to be condescending.”

Mary Worth, 9/5/25

“I learned that John Singer Sargent was part of a cosmopolitan milieu, traveling between the great world capitals and painting society’s elite! I want a comparable experience, which is why I want to go with this old lady to her ghastly mid-century condo complex in exurban Southern California for a week.”

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Family Circus, 9/4/25

Ha ha, look at Jeffy’s face! He knows it’s not good! But he doesn’t have the gumption to be mad about it, just sad!

Hagar the Horrible, 9/4/25

Ha ha, look at everyone’s faces in the second panel here. What awful secret are Hagar and his family concealing — and why is Snert so eager to reveal it?

Pluggers, 9/4/25

Pluggers are nightmarish animal-human chimeras, hideous and offensive to human sight. But among their own kind, in their own company, do they consider themselves to be, in their own distorted way, beautiful? Today we learn the answer: no.

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Hagar the Horrible, 8/30/25

Look, despite the fun (“fun”) I have here detailing all the anachronisms in Hagar the Horrible, I do in fact get that the anachronisms are the point of the strip, that it’s not a realistic historical drama but rather a comedy where half of its whole deal is “What if these Vikings acted like modern middle-class people sometimes?” But I feel like to pull this off you do need to maintain a narrative unity just within an individual strip, whereas today’s installment is all over the map. Hagar napping in a hammock in his fenced suburban yard? Sure, why not. Hagar interacting with some culture that uses smoke signals for communication, like Native Americans or medieval Italians? Fine, Vikings actually encountered both groups. But put the two together and it’s a mess. A mess, I say! Are we to believe that Hagar lives in Newfoundland or Apulia now? I don’t buy it!

Mary Worth, 8/30/25

Wow, Mary spends weeks gushing about how unique Olive is and all the special gifts she has, and then the girl does one little reincarnation fantasy at the Met and all of the sudden Mary’s like “Damn, this kid is a weirdo. Those bullies were right!”