Congratulations to American cartoonist Russell Myers, who has been formally recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Longest running daily cartoon strip by a single author“, for producing his “Broom-Hilda” newspaper strip since 1970.
Broom-Hilda follows the escapades of its eponymous character, a 1500-year-old, cigar-smoking, beer-guzzling witch with a penchant for finding love and getting into trouble. Alongside her motley crew of friends, including the naïve Irwin Troll, the sarcastic Gaylord Buzzard, and the mischievous Nerwin Troll, Broom-Hilda navigates a fantastical world that serves as a humorous reflection of our own.
As of 10th May 2024, Broom-Hilda had been in continuous publication for an astounding 54 years and 35 days.
Writer Mark Evanier previously declared Russell Myers’ “Broom Hilda” the longest-running comic strip to be produced by one person earlier this year. At its peak, it was running in, perhaps, some 300 newspapers, when strips we far more valued by proprietors than they are now, as part of a title’s Unique Selling Point.
“It seems unlikely anyone will wrest the title away from him in the few decades,” he’s since noted. “I don’t know who the next contender would be but Russell ain’t stopping now. And even if he quit or died tomorrow, he still has a year or two of Broom-Hilda strips in inventory.”
Russell Myers was born in Pittsburgh, Kansas but the family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma age seven. He was sketching and drawing while attending Lanier Elementary, Wilson Middle School, and Rogers High School. Russell attended the University of Tulsa where his father was a faculty member.
In an interview for the Voices of Oklahoma web site, John Erling notes that after Russell’s first comic strip submission for syndication failed, he began working for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri in 1960 as an illustrator of greeting cards.
The idea for “Broom-Hilda” came from writer Elliot Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp (the creator of “Li’l Abner”), who described the character to Myers. Myers then designed the characters and wrote the scripts, developing the personality.
“I did everything. All I was given was the name Broom-Hilda, about a witch. That was it. So, as I said, most comic strips have planning and thought behind it. But I just sat down that weekend and the first six strips just bounced out of my head complete. That was all there was to it. It just went from there.
“Broom-Hilda” was first published on 19th April 1970, as part of the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, and was carried by the Tulsa Tribune, and continues in the Tulsa World. Various collections are also available (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
You can also enjoy Broom Hilda here on GoComics, but, alas, the archives only go back to 2001, so you only have 21 years of comics to peruse
The “Broom-Hilda” strip was adapted twice for animated television series, first as part of Archie’s TV Funnies in 1971, an animated series set in a television station run by Archie Andrews and his friends: and 13 episodes of Broom-Hilda for a Filmation series, Fabulous Funnies, ran on NBC.
Back in 2016, Deadline reported producers Gilbert Adler (Tales from the Crypt) and Jason A. Rosenberg had acquired the rights to the strip from Tribune Content Agency, with the aim of making a movie. Adler and Rosenberg had high hopes for the acquisition, Rosenberg declaring: “Russell Myers has been entertaining audiences for years. We’re excited to bring this to the big screen. We plan to create a franchise and leverage the IP across film, television and digital media.” However, there doesn’t seem to have been any update of the status of this the project since it was first announced.
Whether the movie happens or not, in terms of the Broom-Hilda strip, there’s no stopping Russell now, either – at least not for a while. He’s previously explained in the interview for Voices of Oklahoma that he has drawn at least a year and a half of strips in advance.
“I’m about a year and a half ahead… I always figured that no matter how much money I earned I spent less and always have a backlog prepared and, you know, emergency funds. And so I have an emergency fund of strips. I always wonder why they [other cartoonists – Ed] had trouble with deadlines because I found it fairly easy every week to just do one or two extra strips. That gave me time to take a vacation or prepare ahead or whatever you wanted to do.”
• Buy Broom-Hilda collections from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Guinness Book of World Records – Longest running daily cartoon strip by a single author
• Read an extensive interview with Russell Myers on the Voices of Oklahoma website, published in 2020
• Broom-Hilda collection for sale on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Tribune Content Agency
For any newspapers or websites interested in running this record-breaking comic, contact TCA Sales at tcasales@tribpub.com
You can tell a lot about a cartoonist’s creativity by how they manage to incorporate clever rhymes in a brief narrative context!
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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Congratulations on an amazing achievement by Russell Myers, but he still has a way to go to beat another Russell, Australian Jim Russell, who drew the comic strip “The Potts” for 62 years.
Good luck Russell Myers for the next 9 years.
Jim Russell‘s deserved accolade is indeed for drawing “The Potts”, which ran in Smiths Weekly, and then daily in the Melbourne Herald, but his Guinness Record is for “Longest running cartoon strip by a single artist“. He didn’t create the strip, though. “The Potts” was originally created by Stan Cross, who worked for Smiths from 1920 until 1939. Russell was his assistant, but was nominated to take over drawing all his features. When Smiths closed down, Rupert Murdoch bought the rights to the strip, allowing its continuation.
Russell Myers Guinness Award is, as noted above, for “Longest running daily cartoon strip by a single author“, which is may sound picky, but they are clearly distinct as far as Guinness are concerned. Russell is a “one-man shop,” writing and drawing every strip himself, over 19,710 as of the 54th anniversary.