Brian Walker
One of the most famous family strips in the history of the comic-strip medium, Hi and Lois was created by Mort Walker and Dik Browne in 1954, when Mort's son Brian was 2 years old.

Brian could not have had any idea at the time that exactly 30 years later he and his brother Greg, along with Robert "Chance" Browne, would take over from their fathers as the strip's new writer, editor and artist, respectively.

Hi and Lois, distributed by King Features Syndicate to 1,100 newspapers worldwide, is the model example of the modern family strip. This loving portrait is now regarded as a classic, and read daily by millions.

Readers feel a kinship with the Flagston family. For more than 40 years, Hi and Lois has mirrored the comic situations that exist in real life.

Social commentary is a subtle ingredient of Hi and Lois, and the strip has evolved over the years. Lois, who started off as a housewife, got a job as a real-estate agent. Recent strips have dealt with issues such as divorce, crime and changing values.

Brian Walker has a diverse background in professional cartooning and cartoon scholarship. He is a founder and former director of the International Museum of Cartoon Art, where he worked from 1974 to 1992.

Since 1984, he has been part of the creative team that produces the comic strips “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois.” He has written and edited over a dozen books on cartoon art, as well as numerous exhibition catalogs and magazine articles. His most recent books, "The Comics – Since 1945," and a companion volume, "The Comics – Before 1945," were published by Harry Abrams in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

Brian taught cartoon history at the School of Visual Arts from 1995 to 1996. He has served as the curator on 65 cartoon exhibitions, including two recent retrospectives, “The Sunday Funnies: 100 Years of Comics in American Life,” at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn., and “100 Years of American Comics” at the Belgian Center for Comic Art in Brussels. He was Editor-in-Chief of Collectors’ Showcase magazine from 1997 to 2000 and is currently the Chairman of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.

Greg Walker
One of the most famous family strips in the history of the comic-strip medium, Hi and Lois was created in 1954 by Mort Walker and Dik Browne. In the same house at the time was 4-year-old Greg Walker.

Exactly 30 years later, Greg and his brother Brian, along with Robert "Chance" Browne, took over from their fathers as the writers and artist of the strip, respectively.

Hi and Lois is distributed by King Features Syndicate to 1,100 newspapers worldwide. The loving portrait of family life is now regarded as a classic, and read daily by millions.

Readers feel a kinship with the Flagston family. For more than 40 years, Hi and Lois has mirrored the comic situations that exist in real life.

Social commentary is a subtle ingredient of Hi and Lois, and the strip has experienced modest changes over the years. For example, Lois was one of the first comic-strip housewives to take a job outside the home when she became a real-estate agent. Recent strips have dealt with issues such as the environment and fathers' changing roles.

Greg Walker was born Dec. 17, 1949. He says he spent his formative years "spilling Dad's ink and asking dumb questions." He managed to learn a great deal about cartooning from his father and his godfather, Dik Browne.

Greg Walker studied liberal arts and journalism at Syracuse University. He has worked in film, commercial photography, newspapers and graphic arts. At the same time, he managed to write and draw a wide array of comic books, including Rocky and Bullwinkle, Barney and Betty Rubble, Underdog, Sarge Snorkel and his father's own Beetle Bailey.

He started writing Beetle and Hi and Lois gags in the early '70s, moving on to lettering and inking Beetle, chores he continues to this day.

In addition to his work on Hi and Lois and Beetle Bailey, he co-produced The Rock Channel strip with the Gilchrist Brothers, and co-produced Betty Boop and Friends with his brothers Brian, Neal and Morgan.

Greg's e-mail address is grgwalker@aol.com.

Chance Browne
The son of cartoonist Dik Browne (“Hagar the Horrible”), Robert “Chance” Browne was born in New York City and raised in Connecticut. He grew up in a suburban home in an atmosphere of humor, warmth and lots of art supplies. From his background and talents, he managed to create a formidable career of his own in the world of syndicated comic strips as the artist of the successful family strip “Hi and Lois.”

Chance Browne’s first experience as an artist came when he worked as an apprentice to his father on “Hi and Lois.” The oldest of the Browne children, he was born on June 17, 1948, and attended The New York School of Visual Arts and Park College in Missouri. Chance studied painting in college, seeking an “artistic separation” from his father’s work.

He worked as an illustrator, art director and musician before eventually going to work for his father. “Living out of a van wasn’t what it once was,” says Chance, who in the mid-70s accepted his father’s offer to work with him. Dik Browne was spending more time on Hagar and needed help with the artwork on “Hi & Lois.” Chance realized that having such a highly regarded cartoonist for a father was “kind of like being Picasso’s son. Why not study with the best? ... He was my hero.” By the early ‘80s, Chance was drawing “Hi and Lois” full time.

Chance is also an accomplished musician as well as an artist. He served as both art director and studio musician for Philo Records in Vermont and toured with various rock, folk and blues bands. The ever-busy Browne still finds time to paint, do freelance graphic design and play guitar with his blues band. He married his wife, Debra, in 1984, and the couple has three daughters. The Brownes live in Connecticut where they own an art gallery and produce local music events.