Broom Hilda Promotional Illustration for The Veteran's Administration

Back in the 1970's and 1980's my parents subscribed to the Washington Post, I would enjoy reading the comic strip section each day (especially on Sunday's when the strips were over-sized and printed in glorious color)!

One of my favorite strips was Broom Hilda. The adventures of the man-starved witch along with her friends Irwin the Troll and Gaylord the Buzzard often cracked me up. While nowhere nearly as sophisticated as Bloom County or as well drawn as Prince Valiant, Broom Hilda was a fun strip with cute gags that I truly enjoyed.

Once I started collecting comic book artwork I expanded my collection to include some of the newspaper strips I had enjoyed in my youth. I have been fortunate to obtain an unhealthy amount of Walt Kelly Pogo originals, but was never able to find a nice Broom Hilda example.

Flash forward to a couple of years ago when peerless Paul Handler had me over his place for an art-trading session and he showed me this piece! Happily he was not overly attached to it and allowed me to be it's new caretaker.

The illustration has a great gag and my Dad was a Korean War Veteran. This piece is a great reminder of the newspaper strips I enjoyed reading years ago as well as a tug at my heart when I reflect on my Dad's constant support of my hobby (plus he really liked to read Broom Hilda as well)!

I don't ever plan to part with this piece, but if anyone stumbles across a nice published daily or Sunday Broom Hilda strip that features Broom Hilda, Irwin, and Gaylord please keep me in mind if you are willing to let it go!