Hagar the Horrible Plush Doll

Last weekend I visited my local antique mall looking for old things to buy. I wasn’t expecting to find a plush doll from the middle ages!

Hagar the Horrible made his newspaper debut in 1973, and new comic strips featuring the Viking are still being produced today. Hagar was created by Dik Browne, who drew the comics himself until in 1988 when his son Chris took over the strip.

In the 1970s and 80s, paperbacks full of comic strips were very common. Along with Family Circus, Marmaduke and Momma, I had several Hagar the Horrible compilations on my bookshelf. According to Wikipedia, more than 70 Hagar paperbacks have been released. That’s a lot of pillaging!

In the comics, Hagar spends half his time planning raids with his best friend, Lucky Eddie, and the rest of his time at home with his family: his wife Helga, his children (Honi and Hamlet) and his pet duck, Kvack. Hagar may look like a tough Viking, but at home, he has to deal with the same things all dads deal with, which makes him pretty relatable.

I was a little surprised to run across a “new with tags” plush doll of Hagar (according to the tags, this one was manufactured in 2004). I guess it just goes to show that certain things never go out of style!