June 15th, 2014

Super Dads

by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne

When I was growing up, my father worked at home so, unlike many Baby Boom dads, he was available for a wide-range of family responsibilities, including grocery shopping, picking us up at school and changing diapers. Most men in the 1950s and 60s commuted to work and were the family breadwinners.  They were not expected to perform such mundane tasks.

I started working on Hi and Lois in the early 1980s and had only recently been married.  My daughter was born in 1986 and my son followed in 1989.  At the time, my father felt that the strip needed rejuvenation and since my brother Greg and I had just started our families, he thought we could provide some fresh insights.

The term “super mom” is used frequently today and deservedly so.  Many women juggle demanding careers and child-rearing duties – responsibilities that require powers far beyond those of mortal mothers.  But fathers also have larger roles in contemporary families.

In this Sunday page from 1996, I shared some of the multi-tasking challenges that 90s Dads had to deal with.

Hi and Lois Sunday page, June 16, 1996.

My kids were age nine and six when I wrote this strip, so my observations were based on personal experience.

Father’s Day is a time for acknowledging all the little things that dads do every day and often don’t get credit for.  This Sunday page from 2001 shows some of the things that Hi Flagston does for his family.

Hi and Lois Sunday page, June 17, 2001.

My own kids have a nice tradition of writing heart-felt cards of appreciation on Father’s Day.  I enjoy having the opportunity to show my gratitude to all the other dads out there in the panels of Hi and Lois.  Happy Father’s Day!

– Brian Walker