Hagar the Horrible

Hägar (sometimes written sans umalut) is an overweight,red -bearded Viking who regularly raids England and sometimes France. The humor of the comic strip comes from his interactions with his longship crew (his first mate, contrary to depictions of Vikings as big-muscled warriors, is a short, naïve warrior named Lucky Eddie) and, when he is not on his voyages or in the tavern, his wife Helga, their son Hamlet, daughter Honi, Helga's pet duck Kvack, and Hägar's dog Snert.

Since Dik Browne's retirement in 1988 (and subsequent death), his son Christ has continued the comic.

Major characters

The major characters in the strip include:

• Hägar ("the Horrible"): the Danish Viking protagonist
• Helga: Hagar's large, bossy housewife
• Eddie (called Lucky Eddie by all but himself): Hagar's lieutenant in Viking raids
• Honi: Hagar's nubile 16-year-old daughter
• Hamlet: Hagar's intelligent and studious son
• Lute: an untalented bard, and Honi's boyfriend
• Kvack: the family's German duck
• Snert: Hägar's dog

Other characters include Dr. Zook (a shrouded physician who gives primarily nutritional and psychiatric advice), Helga's father (a geriatric Viking with taste in young women whose beard reaches his feet), Helga's mother (a stereotypical mother-in-law), the king's tax collector (who dresses in a cap and gown), Koya the Lawyer, the executioner, a balding waiter at Helga's favorite restaurant, Hernia (a girl who likes Hamlet though he does not like her), the "king of England", and various Anglo-Saxon raiders who serve as Hägar's rivals.