Hi and Lois is one of my favorite comic strips that focuses on family. This story is about Flagstons, Hi and Lois and their four children; Chip, Ditto & Dot (twins), and baby Trixie. This comic strip portrays many fun activities such as family walks in the woods, picnic, skiing in winter, camping, father - son talks about issues related young adults, celebration of father's day, celebration of mother's day, etc. This is also one of the few strips that gives some prominence to the thoughts of little Trixie that touches readers through her beliefs on sunbeam, her brothers and sister and the immediate environment.
In one sketch, during a skiing trip, Flagstons (who always go with their four children) get lost on skiing slope. In another strip, Ditto's Mud Hen's baseball team loses, and get depressed but the whole atmosphere changes when Lois bring food for the losers! In another sketch, the father and son Chip go for a walk in the woods, Hi asks his son where does he wants to go to school, Chip cheerfully admits that he likes a "party school" so that he can have all the fun before he starts working like his dad. On father's day, Lois gives $150 to her kids to treat their dad; Hi makes good use of his day, by playing around of golf, a visit to burger place, then bowling, followed by a visit to the ice cream place. Lois gets annoyed when she finds out how expensive it is to entertain her husband. In a recent sketch on the same subject, Hi goes to play golf with his buddy Thurston, in the morning, with Lois's approval, and eats his breakfast in the evening on his bed. The bewildered kids ask why he is eating his breakfast so late, she replies, it is the father's day.
Over the years the sketches about family picnics, ski trips, mother's day, father's day, father-son talks have not changed much but the Flagstons are a delightful bunch and they make great neighbors.
1.
The Best of Hi and Lois2.
Hi and Lois: Say Cheese3.
Blondie: The Bumstead Family History4.
I Gave At The Office (A Sally Forth Collection)