Broom-Hilda by Russell Myers

My sacred moments of morning me time are now spent admiring great pieces CAF art, such as this ;)

If I do that morning, noon, and night, is that still sacred me time or just something sad from someone who needs to get a life?  LOL

Don't remember much about this strip.  But the art looks gorgeous.  You don't see funny art like this anymore.

Great motto for our hobby's social media trolls!  Love the add.

Most sincere congratulations on this WONDERFUL illustration!  It is the perfect fusion of a beloved newspaper strip from my youth with the passion of art collecting I have enjoyed for over 40 years!  I love that it has a great gag with Broom Hilda along with excellent images of Irwin and Gaylord.  The icing on the cake is Broom Hilda smoking a cigar; this was a staple of the Broom Hilda's I grew up reading, but was removed from the strips in later years.  I am so happy that you have this beauty in your collection!!  I will now redouble my efforts to find something that is even close to this quality for my collection!

I knew I could count on your expertise.  Thanks for helping me date this (at least an approximation) with that cigar info.  Knowing that practice was later removed (most likely as a reaction to the prevailing anti tobacco backlash of the time) gives more credence to the speculation that this was an earlier piece by Myers.  And I have to whole heartedly agree about the drawing.  It IS wonderful.  And not just because it features the main cast, but because he wasn't restricted by the strip format, he really went to town on the drawing.  The large figures of the characters are fantastic, but I also love the work he put into the rest of the scene.  The tree, the rock, Hilda's hilarious bag, and the assorted comic strips laid out.  As beautiful to me as any comic cover or splash I've seen.  Anyway, thanks for the very kind comment my friend.  

Mmmmmph mmmmpppphhhhhhh!

That could be any one of those guys in the bag, but my money's on the guy whose feet are sticking out which means his poor head is down at the bottom.  I probably wouldn't want Hilda bagging my groceries.  LOL

I won't pretend to know a ton about this strip and the characters but I do really appreciate a comic art (and/or comic strip art sometimes) collector sharing a page (or convention program or whatever it may be!) that gets playful about the nature of collecting and interacting with other collectors - here on a platform where we share and interact with other collectors! The "meta" of it makes it even more fun.

The meta angle that you, Marcus, Josh, and Artless all allude to is interesting.  Without being able to accurately date this art, it’s impossible to tell if it truly was an inside gag or just a sign of the times happenstance.  Certainly when you see it today on a site like ComicArtFans, you can’t help but take it as a commentary on our hobby.  But unless we know for sure how far back this piece goes, or even if it was indeed done for a convention (or other hobby related event), we can’t just assume that.  Keep in mind the traits of the title character.  She’s an abrasive, rude, crude, unsanitary, beer-guzzling, cigar-smoking, man-crazy, witch.  For all we know, given the sight gag of Hilda’s sack of men, this could simply be a one-dimensional play on the character’s man-crazed nature.  Still, whether it was deliberate or simply prophetic, the meta angle certainly caught my attention when I first saw the piece and definitely added to the appeal for me. 

A nice meta piece probably done at the birth of the art collecting hobby!

Wow just an epic Broom Hilda! Definitely from the 70s with that cigar, and highlighting something we all love - collecting comic art (and in some cases MEN). LOL! Love it, congrats on a rare gem! 

How did you find this?  Such a great gag for the OA collector

One of the few (and I do mean few) benefits of having no job, no family, and no life.  Haha!  You spend your days surfing the net for OA.  When you're online THAT much, things are bound to pop up.  Thanks for the comment buddy!  Hope we can meet up again soon.

My main exposure to Broom-Hilda is from Archie's TV Funnies.

The comic strip still seems incredibly consistent. 

Wow...this is more like a time machine that transports you back to the days of eagerly picking the paper off the front stoop on Sundays to dig into the comics insert. It's like Coke in green glass bottles...something from the past that just does not exist any longer. Thanks for sharing this and lighting my brain up with some fun memories!

I did not really follow this strip but this piece is, as you say, unique and wholly relevant in the context of our hobby (or, indeed, collecting generally). The artwork is crisp and that adds to the overall desirability of the piece itself. Many congrats, Eric!

I love this piece.  I wish I had been paying more attention.  It is perfect and such a great illustration.  Very happy for you adding this to your already brilliant collection.

I worry that I am starting to look like the guy in the middle as I clutch my near 400 original comic strips in a similarly loving manner.

I'd be more worried if you told me you were starting to look like Hilda.