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Metapost: Johnny Hart, 1931-2007

B.C., 4/8/07

Johnny Hart, creator of B.C. and writer (or co-writer? I’ve never been able to nail this down exactly) of Wizard of Id died Saturday. Today’s Easter strip is perhaps appropriately typical of his later work: infused with his religious beliefs, and largely idiosyncratic and inscrutable (numerology?). He liked to take potshots at atheists, Darwinists, and Jews, and as an interested party I have a hard time not taking those personally, but I’m not going to write anything mean about him today. Instead, I’ll just note that the dude died at his drawing board. That’s hardcore.

Here’s the obit from the AP via CNN. One of the things that struck me was this bit:

Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate in Los Angeles … said Hart was the first cartoonist to sign on when the syndicate was created 20 years ago. “Traditionally, comic strips were owned by syndicates,” Newcombe said. “We were different because we allowed cartoonists to own their own work. It was … Johnny’s commitment to this idea that made us a success.”

This is the end of the CNN version of the story, but faithful reader pesch (who works in a newsroom and has reason to know) adds this from a version of the story he’s seen:

Newcombe said B.C. and Wizard of Id would continue. Family members have been helping produce the strips for years, and they have an extensive computer archive of Hart’s drawings to work with, he said.

If I have any pull at all in the comics industry, I have to beg and plead for this not to happen. Say what you will for good or for ill about Hart’s work, but it has always struck me (despite that note about help from family members) as being indisputably his work. The best way to honor that would be for it to stand on its own, not to be continued by assistants cutting and pasting new dialogue into scans of old strips. Because of the way that comics publishing works, there will be a few weeks worth of Hart-authored strips still to run, but after that it should bow gracefully out. It may be hard to believe for younger folks, but Hart was one of a generation of young turks who shook up the comics page in the 1970s, and letting his strip continue in other hands denies that chance to others and diminishes what went before.

Some folks have already used other comment threads to argue vociferously about the best way to honor (or not) his memory. Feel free to work out your aggressions here; doing so elsewhere will get you sent to The Cockpit.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 09:54 pm and is filed under B.C., metaposts. |

178 responses to “Metapost: Johnny Hart, 1931-2007”

  1. Blade Runner
    April 8th, 2007 at 9:55 pm [Reply]

    Josh – Thanks for the tribute. I salute you, Johnny Hart.

  2. Moon Mullins
    April 8th, 2007 at 9:58 pm [Reply]

    RIP Johnny.

  3. Herro!
    April 8th, 2007 at 9:59 pm [Reply]

    All them damned Jews and their newfangled “math” with their 1s and their 2s and everythin’ addin’ up to such an’ such…there just ain’t no respect anymore for Biblical math! It’s almost like them damned Atheists with their “science” bull hocky!

  4. under_score
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:00 pm [Reply]

    I agree. Even if I loved his strips, or perhaps especially if I loved them, I’d want them to end.

  5. Rusty
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:00 pm [Reply]

    Just posted my thoughts in the Crankshaft thread but will reiterate them here. Kill the strips. Make some room for new young turks. And that includes the nostalgia wallow of Peanuts Classics.

    Of course, that doesn’t speak to the economic realities of what may be Johny Hart Inc., but it’s clear that BC was artistically spent 30 years ago.

  6. Tracer Bullet
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:01 pm [Reply]

    So we should be seeing B.C. again in, what?, three days?

  7. Harry Paratestes
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:01 pm [Reply]

    I come not to praise Johnny Hart, but to bury him. His strip was funny in earlier years, but it hasn’t been so for a long time. Let him rest in peace, and let the strip go with him, so we can keep a memory of the greatness that once was.

  8. Herro!
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:06 pm [Reply]

    Wait…Atheists should be atheists. Capitalization makes it seem more like a real religion!

  9. Crankenstank
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:06 pm [Reply]

    One of the very odd characteristics of my childhood was that the BC cartoon characters had been adopted by Kent State University as mascots (my dad worked there in the 70s, so we went to all the football and basketball games). I enjoyed the strip then; it seemed to be cynical and smirky in a cool way I enjoyed when I was 12. OK, maybe 10. I have no idea what Hart’s connection to Kent State was, but in memory of all those Golden Flash moments. I particularly remember the “fat chick” (Hart’s words, not mine) beating the living shit out of the poor snake, and having a vague feeling there was something more to this than just reptile-hating. There was also that big hairy sasquatch thing, very Id-like (and I don’t mean as in the Wizard of…) that disappeared inexplicably some time ago.

  10. alamo
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:06 pm [Reply]

    why does johnny’s family hate us?

  11. Broken Skittles
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:08 pm [Reply]

    I think if we all sent an e-mail to Creators (Hart’s syndicate) telling them politely that to allow B.C. and Wizard of Id to continue on would be a dishonor to Hart, his characters and his readers, then there might be a change of heart (instead of a change of Hart).

  12. Broken Skittles
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:09 pm [Reply]

    The general e-mail address at Creators is info@creators.com.

  13. Swany
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:12 pm [Reply]

    The truth of the resurrection in four quotes whose word count adds up to 33? Holy Armenian, Batman.

  14. Steve S
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:12 pm [Reply]

    So the gist of his Sunday strip is this: 4 selected quotations about the crucifixion from the Bible in a language that has nothing to do with the original language of the Bible and that did not exist when the Bible was written have a total number of words equal to the number of years that are either a rough guess at the age of the nebulous “historical Jesus” when he died or a cobbled-together figure based on Luke 3:23 plus the Fourth Gospel’s account of a public career spanning three Passovers. Even for numerology, that’s crap.

    Hart’s BC strips, I might add, made frequent use of racial and gender caricatures that ranged from creepy to inexplicable. I doubt that I’m going to be mourning his passing.

  15. AlaskaRavenclaw
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:15 pm [Reply]

    Please, no more. Every time I fly home to upstate NY I’m faced with that giant twelve-foot high B.C. at the baggage claim…

    Rose-Is-Rose will carry the fundamentalist whacko flag from here on in… RIP, Johnny, and let’s leave a slot open for a young cartoonist working his/her way up.

  16. reader-who-posts
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:18 pm [Reply]

    Well, I left a couple of nasty comments about the people rejoicing in his death – let the man rest in peace and move on – but like with Peanuts the strips should be retired. The fact that he died at his storyboard shows he had no plan to pass the strip on while he lived, so let the strip end with him.

  17. fishmorgjp
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:19 pm [Reply]

    Oh Lordie no, don’t continue B.C. — it was bad enough seeing the strip stagger around, zombie-like, when Hart was alive. Please let the strip finally rest in peace, with its creator.

  18. Jack Parsons
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:29 pm [Reply]

    “Feel free to work out your aggressions here; doing so elsewhere will get you sent to The Cockpit.”

    Little late there, dyood.

    But not as late as Johnny.

  19. Citric
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:32 pm [Reply]

    A twisted part of me wants the last BC to be that strip he died creating, whatever it was, and the remaining unfinished space being a memorial card of sorts. As he died so too should the comic.

  20. Beasley
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:32 pm [Reply]

    Nice touch, Josh….nice words and I understand where you’re coming from and what you are saying. RIP, JH.

  21. Maxim Gorky
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:38 pm [Reply]

    Weirdly appropriate final strip.

  22. C. Augusto Valdés
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:43 pm [Reply]

    BC should be over, the boomerang jokes… that’s something I aam not willing to take from a faceless intern.

    …as i was typing I made the typo ‘fecaless’. I think I channeled someone by mistake…

  23. True Fable
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:47 pm [Reply]

    Well, God bless him, and I mean that.

    I grew up reading B.C. and loved it. Like many others, I thought his work slipped somewhat during the past few years but hey, I have respect for the man. How many of US are successful comic strip creators/artists, and have been for the past 50 years? Uh huh, didn’t think so.

    Rest in Peace, Johnny; may all the angels be Cute Chicks.

  24. Thats The Spirit
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:47 pm [Reply]

    “I think if we all sent an e-mail to Creators (Hart’s syndicate) telling them politely that to allow B.C. and Wizard of Id to continue on would be a dishonor to Hart, his characters and his readers, then there might be a change of heart (instead of a change of Hart).”

    No, that would never happen, even if they got a hundred thousand emails. Because this is the only way they can keep the BC money coming in, and concepts like honoring an idea are alien to fundamentalist Christians who revere big cash money.

  25. jnny
    April 8th, 2007 at 10:50 pm [Reply]

    B.C.in ya Johnny

    Sorry, had to do it.

  26. Wordboy Dave
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:02 pm [Reply]

    It seems to be the same story everywhere—the early strips of every cartoon are actually funny, but then the pressure of coming up with a daily joke crushes the humor out of even the hardiest writer, like G. B. Trudeau. I remember looking at some early Family Circus and being blown away: the strip used to be about the absurd frustrations of being a parent, not the bland malaprops of a bunch of kids. And it was actually funny!

    Similarly, back in the day, B. C. was a total trip, where the weirdness and the anachronisms sort of jumbled together into something unlike anything I’d ever seen. It ws not only funny—I’d even call it joyous. But how long ago was that? I can’t even remember the last time Clumsy Carp—or really any of the characters—made an appearance that was in any way distinct. (You used to be able to tell Wiley apart from Thor.) But I will say this: I think the suckiness of the strip was actually predestined in the fact that, while even Beetle Bailey was making General Halftrack take sensitivity lessons, the only two female characters in B.C. were The Skinny Chick and The Fat Broad. Way to ossify painfully! He should have taken the classy Larson/Watterson way out and simply stopped. But now he’s part of the Mort Walker factory. How long can a headache last?

  27. Beth
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:12 pm [Reply]

    Today’s The New Adventures of Queen Victoria Strip comments pithily on Hart’s passing:

    http://tnaoqv.livejournal.com/103467.html

  28. anon
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:13 pm [Reply]

    #6: damn you, you owe me a new keyboard…

  29. Smokin’ Grassroots
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:16 pm [Reply]

    If Johnny resurrects himself tomorrow, I’ll convert.

    But seriously end BC, but continue the Wizard of Id, I need more jokes about alcoholics and poor treatment of prisoners.

  30. kippetje2000
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:19 pm [Reply]

    Johnny Hart passed away at work he loved. How many of us can say the same? How many of us would be highly embarrassed to die at our desks? Discovered by that guy three cubicles over who reeks of cinnamon. No obituary, no one really feeling the impact once we’ve been laid in the ground. Will someone take over the strip is a mote speculation. Look the margoing last strip. Sure the whole thing might not make sense, as a whole, but in there, just two panels long is the quote : in red “Assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise” “It is finished”. What a quote to have as your final words. Worthy of chiseling into stone. We all dread of seeing it(his strips) continue on, with or without him, because we hold him in some esteem even while the snarking goes on. Consider, also, Mr. Shultz, a cartoonist who died on eve of his farewell comic strip. To live a whole life as a three-four panel cartoonist, to toil for it every day, and finally to have it summed up on the most momentous day of you life ;) with a sweet fourth panel pay off, must traject anyone into their own personal heaven. Mr. Shultz died the eve of Valentine’s day, a ‘holiday’ that surely lived a simpatico existence with the Peanut’s world. Yes, we know more strips will come. They don’t write them the night before do they but maybe Hart had this one put aside for when the day came, who knows.

  31. Randy S
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:25 pm [Reply]

    Well, personally I think it’s nice to see some respect shown to the man, even if he had become a… religious fanatic in the last so many years.
    RIP Johnny wherever you are.

  32. Swimmy
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:29 pm [Reply]

    Josh asked once if B.C. was ever funny. Surprisingly, the answer is yes, and I have proof. As soon as I can access a scanner I’ll internetize it to commemorate his passing. I’d like to remember him as I saw him when I bought all those 1960s collections of B.C. comics as a little tyke: humorous and still making jokes about cavemen.

  33. Ubiq
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:54 pm [Reply]

    Wait, based on colorization of the dialogue, aren’t there four people speaking in those quotes instead of three?

  34. Quäsenbo Pan
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:59 pm [Reply]

    A couple of years ago, a particularly vitriolic Sunday B.C. strip about Charles Darwin prompted me to write to my small local paper. My letter in defense of Darwinism prompted a lively debate for months in the opinion pages. I am grateful for that. I disagreed strongly with Mr. Hart’s opinions. His strips sometimes infuriated me. But I respect him for setting his beliefs on the line. Now, if only there were mainstream strips that dared to (or were allowed to) promote Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism…without hiding behind the Religion of Politics.

  35. Erich
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:04 am [Reply]

    I still have to ask: Even in this world where ants discuss Jesus in public skool, how does a Biblical trivia question constitute a math quiz? It might work if the question was: “If Jesus was born in the year 4 B.C. and crucified in the year 29 A.D., how old was He at the crucifixion?” (which requires actual basic calculations). Of course, then you’d only be dredging up the old “Why’s it called ‘B.C.,’ then?” question…

  36. Iris
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:06 am [Reply]

    This is a math test? A MATH TEST? A problem involving a single number based purely on the Bible? Is this really what Hart wanted to see taught in schools? Literature based on the Bible maybe, and history and science in a stretch, but math? I think the next problem should be a comparison of the number of people killed by God to the number of people killed by Satan. That would at least involve counting. And hopefully some subtraction or multiplication, if they even know how to do that.

    I’m so glad my paper dropped B.C. years ago. Now if only the same would happen to Mallard Fillmore.

  37. Joel
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:12 am [Reply]

    I am sorry I said mean things about you Johnny.

  38. bea
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:16 am [Reply]

    35 >> in that case, he’d be 34. You forgot the year 0.

    Also, I’d like to believe that the math question is actually a bonus pointer. “Here’s an easy one for you dunderheads to bring up your grades so I don’t get fired…” or something like that.

    Still, it’s hard to believe Hart’s dead. It’s so weird when people who have been in society’s eye for so many years pass on, especially as someone who is only 23. He’s lived for decades before I was born or aware, isn’t he immortal or something? ;)

  39. Vakar
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:21 am [Reply]

    When I was a lad, I inherited my brother’s trove of paperback comic strip collections, which included some vintage B.C. I ate that shit up, and bought up all the books I could. This gave me the ‘good old’ stuff, but I didn’t see it in the present tense, because we got the evening paper, and B.C. was in the morning edition. About ten years ago, I realized that this meant I missed its decline, and I am glad for that. When I saw some of the ‘controversial’ strips, I felt like I had been hit by an old friend.

    Here’s to the good times, Mr. Hart– you put a smile on my face in my formative years.

  40. Vakar
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:24 am [Reply]

    BTW, bea, there was no year zero. The year count goes from 1 B.C. to AD 1. That system was devised before Europeans even had a concept of zero.

  41. Dieter
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:29 am [Reply]

    # 38 – “35 >> in that case, he’d be 34. You forgot the year 0.”

    Actually, there was no year 0.

  42. Dick, the doorbell
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:37 am [Reply]

    And Monday’s B.C. is back to it’s usual low standards. Maybe the plug should have been pulled immediately and all remaining strips saved for the final compilation volume. After all, only the biggest devotees will buy that one.

  43. Dr. Shrinker
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:37 am [Reply]

    “He died at his drawing board”

    But this strip is simply 10 copies of the same exact drawing. Did his tie get caught in the Xerox machine or something?

  44. condimentalist
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:59 am [Reply]

    I never cared too much for B.C., but I agree with you completely, Josh, on having images churned out by others using stock footage and new jokes. If they do go that route, I hope they use an upgraded model of the Archie-Joke-Generating-Laugh-Unit 3000, the current one has some bugs.

  45. The Poster Formally Known as Mike
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:01 am [Reply]

    Man if they continue BC using copies of Harts old drawings it will be the tackiest, lowest, crummiest….oh you get the idea.

    Geez, I’m sorry the guy is dead. He was great back in the 70’s. I didn’t like his later stuff. Let BC go the way of the cro-magnon.

  46. Shannon
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:40 am [Reply]

    The early B.C. was indeed funny. Even without that, I feel obliged to do the MetaFilter moment of silence:

    .

    No matter whether you agreed with him, or found his strips funny, the guy was an interesting cat. Although I’ll miss railing against his non-sensical, evangelical nonsense, they should absolutely not continue the strip. You just can’t fake non-sensical evangelical nonsense.

    Keep on truckin’, Mr. Hart. I don’t care to live in your version of the afterlife, but I hope you’re happy wherever the hell you are.

  47. Albtraum
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:02 am [Reply]

    #14 pretty much said it all.

  48. Jeff Coleman
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:26 am [Reply]

    When I was a kid I cut my teeth on my dad’s old Fawcett paperbacks of comic strips like Peanuts, Andy Capp, B.C. and Wizard of Id. This was before BC was overtly Christian and pedantic, so I was never really exposed to that.

    I do remember that I as a kid I liked the concept of the guys riding around on the single wheel, and the best thing about BC was the guy who could make “water balls”. He could just pick up water and form it into solid balls and then make little piles of water balls. Nobody else could do it.

    That was a pretty cool and bizarre concept. And as a cartoonist I have to respect somebody who died at the drafting table.

    Jeff

  49. The Avocado Avenger
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:34 am [Reply]

    #14 Steven S – Well said. I’m afraid I live by a philosophy most people don’t share: I’d be a hypocrite to suddenly pretend that I liked or respected someone after their death when I didn’t like or respect them during their life. I mean that in the vague didn’t-know-him-personally kind of way, of course, and I’m speaking as someone who was obviously the kind of person Hart used his nationally syndicated strip to attack.

    That said, I see Hart had a lot of fans, and made a lot of people happy. There’s a lot of good in that.

    #30 – How can you reek of cinnamon? Mmm. Cinnamon.

  50. The Avocado Avenger
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:35 am [Reply]

    I really should have said “many people” and not “most people” in the above post. One of the days I’ll learn to use the handy-dandy preview function.

  51. Randy S
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:55 am [Reply]

    48: I agree about the water balls (That was Clumsy Carp by the way) That was pretty awesome.
    And since you mention it, I don’t recall seeing very many recent strips where someone is riding on the single wheel gizmo.

  52. Randy S
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:19 am [Reply]

    49: The way I see it, it’s only hypocrisy if you’re actually contradicting yourself. I.e., “suddenly pretending to respect someone” who you didn’t respect when they were alive would certainly qualify if such is the case.
    OTOH, just because someone might perceive someone in an adversarial manner doesn’t necessarily equate to an absolute lack of respect for that person.

  53. Jeff Coleman
    April 9th, 2007 at 4:55 am [Reply]

    Was Clumsy Carp also the guy who could trip on the edge of the beach? I do agree with Avocado Avenger that it’s kinda phony to suddenly feign respect for somebody that you didn’t give a crap about during their life.

    But BC had clearly been so lame beyond consideration for so many years I hadn’t thought about those moderately funny (especially to a grade-school me) gags in a long long time.

    Now that I’m thinking about it, I do also remember that I had the wherewithal at age 8 or 10 to be pretty creeped out by the horrible female characters in BC, consisting exclusively of the fat grotesque nag and the slim vapid mannequin. That was weird.

  54. Frank Parsnip
    April 9th, 2007 at 4:58 am [Reply]

    B.C. was great in the old days, and it, like Peanuts, became more erratic than funny as time went on. When it was funny, it could be wonderfully so — but there were long stretches of lame stretched puns in between.

    I always liked how he had B.C. cruising on one wheel on the sides of the Broome County buses. (Broome County is where Binghamton, N.Y., Hart’s hometown, is at.)

  55. LaughingOnTheInside
    April 9th, 2007 at 5:34 am [Reply]

    The comments here make me wonder what will be said of Garry Trudeau when he dies. Any comic that uses religion or politics to aim for laughs crosses the line that polarizes readers. At least BC didn’t start out that way and was funny in a surrealist way early on. I think Hart’s inclusion of religion in the strip was intended to be helpful to people– not as an attack. But he came from a time that was more direct and less concerned with being politically correct.

  56. Sheilagh
    April 9th, 2007 at 6:05 am [Reply]

    38, Bea: Not to snark at you, but weren’t you THERE when 1999 gave way to 2000? All that ENDLESS discussion about whether Jan. 1, 2000 was the first day of the new millennium, with all the sticklers saying NO, it ISN’T, because there was no year 0 so we have to wait for Jan. 1, 2001. (And everyone else saying Who cares, the odometer is turning over!!)

    And yes, that was a very lame “math quiz.”

  57. Tracer Bullet
    April 9th, 2007 at 6:29 am [Reply]

    #49: Doc, that was funnier than anything B.C. has done in at least 15 years.

    Am I the only one who remembers that B.C. Christmas special? It came out in 1981 (thanks, IMDB!). I can’t remember if it was actually funny, but I loved the Midnight Skulker

  58. William Sommerwerck
    April 9th, 2007 at 6:41 am [Reply]

    If old strips were allowed to die with their creators, there’d be more room for new strips. But the syndicates are more interested in making money off a “known quantity” than in encouraging new work. (Note the way that was phrased — I didn’t say they didn’t encourage new work, just that, given a choice….)

  59. spd rdr
    April 9th, 2007 at 6:52 am [Reply]

    I started reading B.C. as a kid. Forty something years later, I still read it. But I think I stopped enjoying it somewhere around 1975. My kids (all 6 of them) have always hated it. So there you go.

    I don’t think that the Harts are going to starve. Time for a strip in the morning paper.

  60. av8rmike
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:24 am [Reply]

    58: So does that mean that someday, *all* of the strips on the papers will be zombie strips? There won’t be any original creations any more, and aspiring new comic artists will have to be satisfied with web-only publishing. I certainly hope the syndicates would eventually wise up.

  61. luke
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:28 am [Reply]

    I was saddened by Mr. Hart’s passing. “B.C.” may have been in decline lately, but I have always been a fan of his work on “Wizard.” I know that Mr. Parker has always drawn that strip, and a lot of the time his appears to be the only name signed to it, so I imagine he will simple continue it on his own.

    “B.C.” could still illicit a laugh from me now and again, and Mr. Hart’s contributions to the comicstrip world should not be forgotten.

  62. Krazy Kat
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:36 am [Reply]

    One of the things that most infuriated me about BC of recent years was that IT USED TO BE FUNNY. I have been a comics fan all my life. As a child I entertained ideas of being a comic writer. I corresponded with Charles Shultz (who was a gentleman and wrote back, nurturing my ‘talent’ bad as it was). I still have volumes of early BC. they were funny, well written and often insightful. These last few years have just been infuriating. Like so many comics it went on too long. Take a tip from The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, stop when you run dry.

    -33-

  63. Thats The Spirit
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:42 am [Reply]

    No one at Hart’s estate cares if they get a million emails begging them to honor is memory by stopping. They’re going to milk every last penny out of the BC monye train. So don’t bother.

    As a tribute, here is my favorite BC strip from back when BC was funny. Wiley says to carp, “why do you wear glasses?” And carp says to wiley, “My glasses are to me what your peg leg is to you.” And wiley, shocked, replies: “you keep booze in your glasses?”

    The man created some zany, vaguely immoral characters back before he found his version of God.

  64. James Schend
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:50 am [Reply]

    Krazy Kat:

    I dunno; I’d rather have zombie Far Side and zombie Calvin and Hobbes than zombie B.C.

  65. Paul Paron
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:52 am [Reply]

    Totally agree, the strip used to be funny, but it jumped the shark long ago, and the powers that be only saw that it was still being read and kept it alive.

    It needs to be retired with Hart’s passing. No disrespect to the artist, but let the new breed take the space.

  66. MacManx
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:01 am [Reply]

    Hart did have one last great series a few years ago when he let one character venture beyond their world to discover what lies beyond. The character who was always floating messages across the sea to an unknown penpal, finally floated across the sea himself and was gone for weeks. He met new characters and discovered the world was round. It was good stuff.

  67. Artist formerly known as Ben
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:01 am [Reply]

    I’d have to second (or twenty-fifth, as the case may be) Josh’s call for BC to be retired. The fact is that Johnny Hart himself might have served his own legacy by doing a Watterson around 1990 or so. Any continuation of the strip will probably iron out the abrasive theocratic posturing of his later work, but it will also do without his sharp wit. Which he did have. If you can find the paperback collections from Hart’s 1970’s heyday, do yourself a favor and pick them up. He really had it going on back then.

  68. messy
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:08 am [Reply]

    Johnny Hart was once one of the best around, but that was long ago. We all know that. He didn’t have anything to do with the “Wizard of Id” for years, Parker and his assistants did it by themselves.

    As to the Creators’ Syndicate. They don’t own the strip. All the strips are owned by the creators. That’s why Hart went there.

  69. Calico
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:38 am [Reply]

    B. C. used to be funny when I was a kid. And FOOB used to be really good in the 90’s. As with so many other professions, things can and do change for various reasons-illness, burnout, lack of further interest, need to ponficate.
    It is weirdly poetic that Mr. Hart passed between this year’s commemoration of the crucifixion and resurrection of the physical Christ. In a way I hope he’s winking at his readers.
    I don’t like way he sometimes seemingly bashed or humiliated others who didn’t adhere to his system of beliefs or who were of a different culture. I have no idea if this was intentional or not.
    Regardless, my sympathies to Johnny’s family and friends and I hope he rests in peace and good energy.
    But please no B-sides or clip art, though! At least have someone else learn to draw some stuff if you are going to continue with B.C. Maybe a cool idea would be to have various and rotating contributors/ghosters-that would be kind of new, wild, and crazy. Just a thought.

  70. Calico
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:40 am [Reply]

    I meant Pontificate. Sorry!

  71. zeeba
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:44 am [Reply]

    Like many of you, I can’t remember a world without Johnny Hart and B.C. B.C. was one of the first strips I read as a little zeeba and have continued for 40 years, although sometimes I wondered why, especially in recent years.

    I remember a tv special about BC and the first Thanksgiving (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=3504). Talk about anachronisms!!! But that was something to be expected from Johnny Hart.

    In 2001, Hart was soundly criticized for an Easter Sunday strip in which a menorah morphed into a cross. He responded to the criticisms (and I remember that most newspapers carried his response): http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ad8d81d4eb3.htm

    In the 1990s, Hart had his last great storyline (IMHO) when Peter rafted away from the caveman land into the ocean beyond, where he discovered that the world was round, and he also found 2 new characters, Anno and Conahonty.
    I never cared too much for the new characters, but the days of Peter hanging onto his raft and his questioning of himself for the decision to journey away were really very good. I wrote my only fan letter to Johnny Hart at this time, congratulating him for this thoughtful series. Never heard back from him, but I never expected to.

    I guess my favorite characters in this strip were the peripheral animals (the dinosaur, the turtle with the bird on his back, the apteryx (“a wingless bird with hairy feathers”), the hapless anteater, the even more hapless snake, the Thanksgiving turkey. And Grog!! GROG!!!!

  72. Concerned Citizen
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:57 am [Reply]

    After a long hiatus, Johnny Hart’s demise brought me back. As much as I disliked BC and ignored Id, knowing that he died at his drawing board has a certain redemptive quality.

    Well, not just JH-RIP. The sheer religious perversity of Friday’s FC was too much to ignore.

  73. EricW
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:23 am [Reply]

    In honor of the departed, here’s B.C. circa 1977, before Hart took a different road:

    http://img.waffleimages.com/08127b8d546afc94a7b6d568cf9d4f42897743a4/bc-1.jpg
    http://img.waffleimages.com/4c767cc05d5cf64613c9696ed268dfd9a5fde7a7/bc-2.jpg

  74. tinfoil hattie
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:40 am [Reply]

    Johnny Hart. Sexist, racist comic writer. Yup. A lot to admire about that! Fat Broad and Cute Chick! Har de har har. Jewish & Muslim “jokes”! Even funnier.

  75. Eric G
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:06 am [Reply]

    73: Links don’t work. Message about not linking.

    64: Re: “I’d rather have zombie Far Side and zombie Calvin and Hobbes than zombie B.C.”

    That’s only because they left on a high note. If they had gotten stale, we’d probably hold them in contempt too. (And besides, we still have Bizarro and Frazz.)

  76. Foobar
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:13 am [Reply]

    A fun way to conclude a strip whose author has died:

    The strip will continue to run daily on guest strips of ever-decreasing quality, both of writing and art. After about two weeks, a voice bubble will issue from the margins of the strip itself saying “I can’t take it anymore!” and the last panel will be shown collapsing, exploding, deflating, etc. For the remainder of the week, the paper will print blank space with a printed epitaph
    (i.e. R.I.P Author McWritey
    Comix: 19xx-20xx
    He died as he lived: of a massive heart attack)
    Giving us all one last laugh and a nice sendoff to the deceased. This is especially nice since no matter how bad the strip was it will look great in comparison to the guest strips, flattering the memory of the author. Then a new strip will rise from the ruins.

  77. EricW
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:16 am [Reply]

    75. Gah, sorry about that…let’s try that again with a different host.

    http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?srv=img03&img=/7/4/9/f_bc1m_8f59061.jpg
    http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?srv=img02&img=/7/4/9/f_bc2m_2991216.jpg

  78. Eric G
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:20 am [Reply]

    77: Thank you.

    That’s the way I prefer to remember BC. Much appreciated.

  79. Sherman
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:29 am [Reply]

    Your tribute to a cartoonist whom you disliked is gentlemanly and touching.

  80. Stranger…
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:40 am [Reply]

    I agree that they should let the comic end. I always liked BC and will miss it, but it will no longer be his strip in someone else’s hand.

    I am not so thrilled about bringing up a new young turk, tho. Most new comics I have seen today (in print) have lousy art. Most look like my 3 year old could have drawn it.

  81. Monkey David
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:17 am [Reply]

    Dr. Shrinker, your Xerox comment made me laugh out loud.
    Josh, seriously, can’t you get an editorial at WaPo or somewhere about all of the old comics cluttering up the comics page? I do think there are some good artists out there who could take the place of FOOB, Peanuts, B.C., etc…

  82. jason
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:38 am [Reply]

    An open letter to Hart’s family, pleading not to continue the strip:

    http://www.happyscrappy.com/blog/archives/004017.html

  83. Poteet
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:38 am [Reply]

    Having messed up the name of the creator of PEANUTS twice, and apologized for it, I take a certain small pleasure in seeing that a lot of other people don’t know how to spell it either:-). It’s Schulz. (Unless I’ve messed it up a third time.)

  84. BCDean
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:44 am [Reply]

    So long Johnny Hart, thanks for the laughs.
    I for one have always been able to overlook a little proselytizing.
    Now, as for him dying with his boots on; could this be like that case in Monte Python where the author died at his typewriter after writing the joke that kills?

  85. Pastor Z
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:49 am [Reply]

    I did the following cartoon tribute to Mr. Hart at on the Church Mice website :
    In Memory of Johnny Hart

  86. kingklash
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:56 am [Reply]

    Goodbye and Godspeed, Johnny.

    Now what if (if the Universe is as quantumly complicated to the point of inexplicable perverseness as I suspect) in its’ post-creator state, his family and the backlog of art actually make the strip funny again? There’s got to be the one example that disproves the rule. That would make it four thing that show God has a sense of humor.

    The other three are Camels, Penguins, and that Mountain Dew ad with Chuck Norris.

  87. Eric G
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:31 pm [Reply]

    86: “The other three are Camels, Penguins, and that Mountain Dew ad with Chuck Norris.”

    So you have accepted Chuck Norris as your savior?

  88. bismuth+paregoric
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:32 pm [Reply]

    Back in the 60’s, BC and The Wizard of Id were really funny. Yes, they were (and are) full of sexist stereotypes of women. Nearly everything in the culture was. And yes, Hart’s preaching was really difficult to take. People have discussed all this above. Like others, I loved what the strip was when it was clever and I hated what the strip became when Hart ran out of good things to do.

    However, no one so far (I think) has pointed out that Hart had a unique and very effective drawing style. Like much about his strip, it was spare and lean, and visually very effective. Not top-flight, perhaps, but if you looked at the comics page of any paper, you could find B.C. at a glance. It was minimalist, but it was clear and elegant — especially compared to strips like Momma and Crock and Dilbert.

    His thing, I think, was to strip our world down to essentials — to say, apart from all the details of life, what are people like? It’s a great concept, and explains his style of drawing, writing, and the whole anachronistic cave-men-playing-baseball (or whatever) thing. When he was good, he was better than most; when he went bad it was terrible.

    Thus, BC should be read — in reprints of his old collections — and we should find new good comics to fill the space that he has left open. The only exception worth making is for the greats: Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.

  89. AhClem
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:35 pm [Reply]

    Among the very few comic strips I have pinned to the cork board on my desk at home is a very yellowed B.C. strip from the early 1970s. It shows one of the characters reading a “Dick and Jane” book. The three panels read “See Dick and Jane lost in the woods. See Dick save the day by remembering his compass. See Dick and Jane spend their last days drawing little circles in the dirt.” As an engineering student at the time, I really appreciated the humor and the play on words.

    B.C. ceased to be funny years ago. Many times I wished my paper would pull it and replace it with something funnier and less blatantly religious. However, I never wished any ill will on Johnny Hart himself. Rest in Peace, Mr. Hart, and I hope you find what you ‘re looking for.

    Sometimes the line between criticism of a person’s work and attacks on that person him/herself can get a bit fuzzy, especially on a blog like this. I see a lot of that happening here regarding Lynn Johnston and FBOFW. Yes, the strip used to be pretty good but has since degraded into sentimental claptrap and predictable banality. But “Death to LJ!” and other vitriol aimed at Ms. Johnston really aren’t necessary when aiming the snark missiles at her work. There are more than enough targets there; personal attacks serve little purpose and, I think, degrade the general feel of the blog.

    Just my opinion. YMMV, etc.

  90. Retro Lad
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:51 pm [Reply]

    Johnny Hart passed away at work he loved. How many of us can say the same?

    Uh, none that I know of. I pretty much want the dead to stay that way. Except me, of course.

  91. Retro Lad
    April 9th, 2007 at 12:54 pm [Reply]

    But seriously, I grew up with B.C. back in the day when the humor was often too subtle for a callow youth. It wasn’t until I grew up – in various senses of the word – that I appreciated what Mr. Hart was telling us. Rest well, Johnny Hart. You will be missed.

  92. r
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

    funny how a strip about cavemen came to express the primitive, backwards views of a modern day caveman. im going to go find a fat broad and whack some snakes with a club and maybe some jews after that in johnny harts memory.

  93. athena
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:28 pm [Reply]

    People say that Hart was a comic-strip innovator…but in what way? I never found his style of drawing especially creative — hasn’t the “big foot” style of cartooning been around for decades? Was it the intentional anachronism? If anyone could explain…

    (For the record, I never found BC funny, even as a kid in the ’70s. I did like Wizard of Id, though, when it focused more on the “king is a fink” storyline and the spook…)

  94. teenchy
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:32 pm [Reply]

    ##71, 74: Thanks for reminding me of Anno and Conahonty. Anno = an Italian stereotype so bad that it’s a wonder he didn’t have a monkey with a tin cup and an organ to grind. Conahonty = a Native American stereotype so bad he would’ve been at home on a Cleveland Indians cap.

  95. TaxiGirl
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:48 pm [Reply]

    The thing that I’m finding most impressive about Johnny Hart’s passing is seeing how many Curmudgeonites are in or have ties to the Broome County area.

    Maybe we should have some sort of a convention. Or a picnic. Or just a rampage.

  96. Itazurakko!
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:54 pm [Reply]

    RIP, Johnny Hart.

    I agree, the strip needs to end. Let some new art fill the paper.

    Unlike some I don’t want to see any reprints of Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes either, though. If you want to read those things, they’re available in book form.

    The newspaper and magazines should be reserved for actual serial art – stuff coming out for the first time.

  97. mop
    April 9th, 2007 at 1:58 pm [Reply]

    I despise BC, in spite of my being a Christian. But I do mourn Hart’s passing. There’s something special about that particular strip. Preachy, but special to some of us. I get my sermons in church, not in the funny papers.

  98. Pantsman
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:07 pm [Reply]

    I’ve already proven that it’s possible to scrounge up B.C. panels and rearrange ‘em to create new comics…a little comic experiment I tried last year called “Better B.C.”.

    As to whether such a thing should be done and printed in the papers is another story. Are newspaper comics (and comic books I suppose) the only entertainment medium in which the product often outlives its creator? While we’re at it, I’d like to see some new John Wayne movies…

  99. messy
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:28 pm [Reply]

    #41
    Actually, there was no year 0.

    Acually, only in the BC/AD system, in the BCE/CE system, there is.

  100. Snappy Patterson
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:31 pm [Reply]

    After reading a particularly strange B.C., I googled “Johnny Hart B.C. Weird” and found the Comic Curmugeon website. So I am grateful to Mr. Hart for that. Rest In Peace Johnny Hart

  101. Mountain Mama
    April 9th, 2007 at 2:54 pm [Reply]

    I had or perhaps still have a B.C. book somewhere. In it is one of my all-time favorite comic strips.

    Someone (Peter?) is explaining golf to the Cute Chick. She says, “So the idea is to hit the ball as few times as possible? Responds the guy, “Yes!”

    Next panel she says, “Then why hit it at all?”

    Last panel it’s now dark and he’s standing out there thinking, “Why….hit it….at all?”

    To me, that’s classic. Hart did have it goin’ on back in the day and he probably should have retired years ago, but I prefer to think of that strip and say godspeed to him.

    Now Tinsley, OTOH…….

  102. Brent
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:07 pm [Reply]

    The problem I have with the Hart Family efforts to continue Johnny Hart’s strips – and here I really mean “B.C.” since “Wizard of Id” was always more of a collaborative effort with Brant Parker doing the art – is this whole idea of using “an extensive computer archive of Hart’s drawings.” Say what you want about strips like “Dick Tracy,” “Annie,” and “Gasoline Alley” the transitions between artists has been clear with the new artists bringing their own style to mix. In “Gasoline Alley” Frank King’s version of the strip was different from Dick Moore’s which in turn is different from Jim Scanarelli’s current version. What the Hart Family seems intent on doing is to keep the money train rolling by fitting more bad gags around images from the old man’s previous strips. Unless someone can bring something new to the thing, let it die.

  103. UncleJeff
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm [Reply]

    It’s been fun reading the people who are old enough to remember the “classic” days of Johnny Hart’s BC. I, too, grew up with the Fawcett paperback collections and still laugh at ZOT!, the “flightless bird with hairy feathers” and the poor snake. Sadly (as others pointed out), a lot of those characters and concepts petered out (pun intended) over the years as Johnny’s evangelistic side took over. (When is the last time Clumsy Carp appeared in the strip).
    I hope JH left a farewell cartoon ala Schulz (how sad and dramatic that was!)…run a few “greatest hits” strips…and then fade to black.

  104. Brent
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:20 pm [Reply]

    #99: Actually no. Astronomers have included a year 0 for ease of calculations, but neither the Gregorian and Julian Calendars includes a “year 0″ and Common Era is defined as “the period of measured time beginning with the year 1 on the Gregorian calendar.”

  105. UncleJeff
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:38 pm [Reply]

    I should add — when was the last time Clumsy Carp appeared in a strip doing something “clumsy” (or miraculous as in the case of the ‘water balls.’)?

  106. Erich
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:39 pm [Reply]

    #89 and #101: Those were indeed two great strips.

    Another favorite classic BC of mine: Thor is riding his wheel and sees a sign that says “Flagman Ahead.” In the next panel, he’s going past one of the other cavemen, dressed in a patriotic-themed superhero costume.

    I think of that strip every time I pass one of the now-gender-inclusive “Flagger Ahead” road signs.

  107. RaJ
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:54 pm [Reply]

    My thoughts.

  108. windie
    April 9th, 2007 at 3:56 pm [Reply]

    If they were to restart the strip (like Peanuts) to when everyone agrees they were REALLY REALLY GOOD, I think that would just be the right thing.

    In some ways its short-sighted, but I just want to see excellent strips in the comics. Most of the new stuff is horrible crap anyways, and I doubt BC would be replaced by anything the quality of the older BC’s.

  109. RaJ
    April 9th, 2007 at 4:02 pm [Reply]

    Uh,

    http://www.angelfire.com/anime/fanficgems/pleaseletmedie.JPG

    If you copy and paste the URL, Angelfire should let you see it. I think!

  110. stewart
    April 9th, 2007 at 4:16 pm [Reply]

    I’ve had the same thought as a couple of you: what if they bring in a new writer who ISN’T a total fundie asshole?

    I mean, who knew that Sally Forth would actually become an entertaining strip once a talented writer started scripting it? If it can happen there, why can’t it happen here?

    Not least because if the Hart family is as money-grubbing as folks are claiming (without ANY inside knowledge, mind), they’ll want to maximize the profits, and in a world where the religious right are getting so marginalized that not even the GOP are pandering to them as much anymore, why continue backing that horse?

    And it could well be that the kids always found dad’s late-in-life conversion into TFA really embarrassing, and they want to strip that aspect out of the strip.

  111. Ferd Berfel
    April 9th, 2007 at 4:23 pm [Reply]

    The article mentioned that Hart’s family had been ‘assisting’ him for several years now. That makes me wonder if one of them is the fundie asshole and they’ve been taking advantage of a gaga old man to spread the “Good News” (sic).

    If this is true, it means the strip is going to get even worse.

    I’m also sure I’m not the only one who would have loved to seen the look on Hart’s when he realized he’d died and nothing happened. Enjoy your dirt nap Jonny, it seems your imaginary friends were… well… imaginary!

  112. cheech wizard
    April 9th, 2007 at 4:38 pm [Reply]

    What I’d like to see is when Johnny Hart turns up in Hell, and some other guy pulls his mask off and turns out to be Satan, who bellows “Hah! Hah! You were wrong! You didn’t accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior!”

    Johnny: “But I did!”

    Satan: “Oh. Well, then, you were a racist asshole! Hah! Hah! Hah!”

    I’m sorry, that was mean. But I couldn’t help myself.

    Oh, yeah, and count me among those who remember when B.C. was funny and hip, about 40 years ago.

  113. Hooah Heel
    April 9th, 2007 at 5:06 pm [Reply]

    112, Satan’s saving his really good material for when Jack Chick dies.

  114. AirForbes
    April 9th, 2007 at 5:22 pm [Reply]

    I’ll sort of miss Johnny’s annoying, snarkworthy religious takes (He answered a biblical question with numerology? How heretical is that?). He was irritating enough to gripe about, but not the way reading Mallard Fillmore would be. Figures he’d die over Easter weekend – I wouldn’t put it past him to plan it!

    The strip did have its better years, despite the recent material. So in Johnny’s honor, I’ll say it one more time:

    Clams got velcro!

  115. Bruce Robinson, Cartoonist
    April 9th, 2007 at 5:48 pm [Reply]

    Johnny was a GREAT guy! I really appreciate and admire his stand for the Lord. I feel blessed to have known him personally and also feel blessed that he endorsed my cartoon book GOOD MEDICINE (religious “FAR SIDE”-type cartoons). Since he was a fellow Christian, I KNOW that he is with Jesus now in Paradise (ref. 1 John 5:13), since the Bible talks about a believer being present with the Lord when they are absent from the body (ref. 2 Cor. 5:8)! Please pray for his wife’s (Bobby) and family’s comfort at this time. He will be TRULY missed, but I look forward to the time when I can hang out with him in Heaven and reminisce about cartooning times here on earth. Johnny believed in what Jesus said in the Bible in John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I feel that upon entering Heaven, Jesus may have said to Johnny something similar to “Welcome Home, thy good and faithful servant!”

  116. Ferd Berfel
    April 9th, 2007 at 6:25 pm [Reply]

    After reading the recently linked article about the Onion’s editorial cartoonist, I’m a little shaky when it comes to identifying parody these days. The idea that a good parody won’t be easily identified as a parody makes spotting them just that much harder.

    For example, is #115 post meant as a parody? Or was Bruce Robinson, Creationist – I mean “cartoonist” – serious when he typed it? Read one way, it should be a serious COTW contender. Read another way, it’s just someone off their meds and posting at the wrong blog.

  117. Financial Panther
    April 9th, 2007 at 6:34 pm [Reply]

    Re: 115–Dear Sir: Quite frankly, taking this opportunity in a public forum to schill for your own cartoon (among other transgressions) is fairly crass, regardless of where you (and Johnny) currently “sit” with the lord (or Lord, as your predilections warrant). I have been fairly impressed with the reactions of the previous commentors (with only a few unthoughtful commenta among them, regardless of their stand on Mr. Hart’s proselytizing ), and I find you comment sticking out like a freshly polished turd among them. The poet Robert Browning once said, “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Methinks your words in this instance have exceeded your grasp.

  118. Kiggy
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:26 pm [Reply]

    Poor Ferd — Jesus loves you too, buddy! Cheer up!

  119. Joel
    April 9th, 2007 at 7:42 pm [Reply]

    Ok is this a good time to discuss standards for speaking ill of the dead?

    Good.

    So I didnt much care for Hart, and certainly dont care for his politics, but all and all I think we can agree he was pretty harmless. My standards of for speaking ill of the recently departed are 1) they must have actually hurt someone badly, like killed or maimed or raped them or, for public figures, 2) they must, at the very least, have advocated something evil.

    Was Hart an Anti-Semite? You could damn sure make an argument. Was he insensitive to the point of clodfulness? Yes, no question there. But was he full of hate? Anger maybe, hate … nah. There is a huge difference between turning a menorah into a cross (insensitive, strange, maybe even deliberately hurtful) and denying the holocaust or advocating genocide (hateful, evil). And what, really, is the harm of a little neanderthal adherence to creationism? I mean, does it really hurt anyone? He’s dead now, and each of his flaws is a call to look at our own imperfect conditions.

    So I say he gets a pass.

    Good bye, Johnny, you crazy crazy sonafabitch. May you be remembered at your sharpest, and most talented, for the wit that forged human connections to many different kinds of people. And may whatever laughter you have generated in your life revereberate in your honor.

  120. slinkimalinki
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:09 pm [Reply]

    my standards for speaking ill of the dead are exactly they same as my standards for speaking ill of the living. i don’t see why death should make a difference to my view of someone. after all, we all know that everyone is going to die at some stage: if we shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, then surely we should pre-emptively not speak ill of anyone, ever. i concur with most commenters: hart was reasonably funny in his early days, and unpleasingly batshit insane in his later days. his death hasn’t changed that.

    speaking of speaking ill of people: bruce robinson,[redacted]. this has never been the kind of place where commenters say mean things to each other. i’m putting an immense amount of effort into not making an exception to that for you. suffice it to say that i clicked on your link.

  121. Joe Bftsplk
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:13 pm [Reply]

    B.C. was one of the essential strips when I was a kid, back in the ’60s and ’70s, up there with Peanuts and Nancy and Snuffy Smith etc. I too remember Clumsy Carp kneeling at the edge of the stream making water balls, and thinking that that would be a cool skill to have. I remember an odd dream that I had once, in which I was at the beach and actually managing to make waterballs of my own, but for some reason I couldn’t keep them from getting full of sand, and it was frustrating. For the last couple of decades I haven’t been reading actual newspapers very much, so I haven’t been as exposed to the obvious decline of so many of them as more devoted readers have, and my primary memory of B.C. is of a fairly consistently funny strip.

    One of my hobbies is unicycle riding. Among the unicycle’s more eccentric cousins is a device consisting of a wheel with a freewheeling axle with footrests on either side, and no frame or seat. A sufficiently skilled operator can get this thing rolling along the ground – preferably a smooth surface like a gym floor – and then jump on and, assuming he/she can stay balanced, coast along until it runs out of momentum. This is considerably more difficult to do than riding a regular unicycle and is also rather more dangerous, because if you lose your balance (usually falling backward), the wheel will instantly shoot out from under you with astonishing speed while your feet head for the sky. This machine most often goes by one of two names; it is sometimes called the “impossible wheel” (to distinguish it from the “ultimate wheel,” which is a frameless/seatless unicycle with fixed cranks and pedals) but is more often referred to as the “B.C. wheel” due to its obvious resemblance to the comic-strip vehicle. So Mr. Hart’s concept of minimalist transportation is not entirely fantasy, although the sort of high-speed cross-country travel that he depicted is hardly practical. And that’s the extent of Johnny Hart’s impact on my life.

  122. Joel
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:39 pm [Reply]

    120
    “i don’t see why death should make a difference to my view of someone. ”
    Shit, I dont know… I guess its difficult to articulate, but maybe because the dead have no more opportunity to make right? To defend themselves? Because death highlights their humanity, and to speak well of them as a completed being is to reaffirm our hope in ourselves? Because they cease to be themselves at their worst, and we might as well think of them at their best? Because people might miss them?

  123. Marion Delgado
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:43 pm [Reply]

    Bruce Robinson is just a workin’ cartoonist in the johnny hart mode. I think Johnny would not have considered his post crass or inappropriate. I must say, tho, the repeated “hilarious” at the site is a touch desperate. Unlike my hilarious comments. Definitely grade A chuckle-worthy mirth-inducing sure-fire laugh-factory of a comments opus. Which are so hilarious, people here, heck, really, people everywhere, rarely fail to break out in hilarious laughter.

    Due to their side-splitting hilarity and general hilarious nature.

  124. Skullturf Q. Beavispants
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:45 pm [Reply]

    I’m with #120 Slinkimalinki — I’m desperately trying to resist the urge to say mean things to #115 Bruce Robinson.

    Post #115 made me a little angry. When I learned of Mr. Hart’s death while reading this blog, I posted a plea for respect where I essentially said: please don’t let your political or religious disagreements with Mr. Hart turn into gloating about his passing.

    I could have gone on at length about my personal beliefs in that post if I had wanted to. I suppose I obliquely hinted that Hart wasn’t my favourite cartoonist (and Nixon wasn’t my favourite president), but I didn’t think it appropriate to dwell on what I believe or don’t believe, because it’s not about me. Johnny Hart was the focus of the moment, and I’m just one of the hundreds of people who comment here.

    I could have mentioned that I’m an atheist in that post (which is true), and I could have talked at length about my reasons for being one. But I didn’t, because I really didn’t think it would have been appropriate at all for me to say, “My condolences to Johnny Hart and his family, and by the way, I’d just like to say that I don’t think God really exists.” If I went around spouting off about my atheism to people who never asked me, well, I would come across as a bit of an asshole.

    Now I’m a bit angry, because I think, “well, why did I bother to be diplomatic and take what I thought was the high road?” Why do some (not all, I realize, but some) Christians think we give a crap about how certain they are of their opinions? Robinson says “I KNOW that he is with Jesus now in Paradise”… um, dude, you might hope that, or believe it, or wish it, but I don’t think you’ll really KNOW it until you die, too, and maybe not even then.

    Greater minds than yours or mine have grappled with these questions, but suffice it to say, certainty’s not so easy to come by, Bruce. If you think it is, you’re deluding yourself.

    Sorry for the rant, everyone.

  125. Skullturf Q. Beavispants
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:46 pm [Reply]

    Oh, and Bruce: 1997 called — it wants its webpage design back.

  126. Marion Delgado
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:47 pm [Reply]

    BTW apropos de rien I think I want all the Chickweed denizens sent to Winkerhell before we send the Pattersons. They’re way, way, way more annoying. they need a quick sendoff to a cross between gil thorp and winkerbean. an incoherent but completely bleak and desperately unhappy realm of ill luck and scant rhyme or reason. A chaotic whirl of despair.

    Okay, back to the God-driven world of BC.

  127. Chromium
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:49 pm [Reply]

    This is actually quite sad. “B.C.” was one of the weirdest, looniest strips of all time, and I certainly respect it for that… whether or not it was intentional.

    RIP Hart

  128. The Sanity Inspector
    April 9th, 2007 at 8:55 pm [Reply]

    Well done, Josh. BC and The Wizard of ID were among the first comics I really dug, once I outgrew Children’s Digest and Highlights magazine. Thanks for the wonderful tribute. RIP Johnny.

  129. CounterHegemony
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:09 pm [Reply]

    It think it should be noted that Bruce Robinson has copy and pasted the exact same comment at The Daily Cartoonist’s (much briefer) discussion about Hart’s death, which can be found here.

    Taking advantage of a fellow Christian’s death in order to shill for your own product wherever you can… I must have missed that parable.

  130. Andy L.
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:16 pm [Reply]

    I can’t help but be amused at the idea that Johnny Hart’s relatives will continue B.C. in his honor.

    I imagine them all sitting around a table saying “What would Johnny do in this situation?” and someone else would exclaim “I know! He’d insult the Jews!” and then everyone would think back to their fondest memories of Uncle Johnny and agree that yes, he would insult the Jews.

    And then they would dutifully pencil in an anti-semitic joke over a Xeroxed image of a caveman standing next to a rock.

  131. Canuckguy
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:32 pm [Reply]

    Well, lots of thoughts have I on this news – and I will admit it, the very first one I had once I read about Hart’s passing in today’s paper was “What’s Josh gonna say about it, I gotta rush home and read Comics Curmudgeon right away!” (Been busy due to personal stuff, so hadn’t seen CC until today, and, honestly, might not have even logged in today had I not heard about Hart)

    Second one was similar to Josh’s when I read about how Hart died at the drawing board. That is indeed hardcore. (Doubly so as I wouldn’t have thought Johnny Hart, of all people, worked on Easter weekend!)

    I will say that Johnny always had the funny in him, yes there is the classic times from the 70s before it undoubtedly “jumped the shark”, but it still had funny strips today. My complaint about the strip was similar to everyone’s (re the fundamentalist nature of it, despite the fact that my beliefs are more Hart-ish than I care to admit sometimes), but more like “the man’s a cartoonist and makes a living being funny. If he wanted to be preachy in the strip, he could have been funny doing it.” The aforementioned Sunday strip was an example: a good sermon yes, but not “funny” at all. Come on, Hart, I have a fantastic sense of humour and can easily make respectful jokes on the subject matter of Christianity.” But I digress.

    I’ll close by adding my voice to the chorus of thousands, who like and hate the strip, to say just let it be. *Any* strip should really be put to rest with its creator, as it’s a creation of him/her. (Of course that would mean we would be lacking a lot of modern-day strips who have outlived their creator, some that come to mind are Blondie, Popeye, and I think even A3G.) Hart’s name is, for the time being, on every strip. I think that says something about it being Johnny Hart’s and Johnny Hart’s alone.

  132. Mr Bribery and His Shrunken Heads
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:33 pm [Reply]

    I when I was four, my parents were going to see REO Speedwagon and The Eagles at the Syracuse Dome. However, there was a BC Christmas special on tv. To me, it was a draw. I went to the show and actually remember one REO song. I never heard of the Christmas special again.

    The NYT obit was well done- I was heavy into Dick Tracy at the time and recognized some of the twisted humor in the strip. I never read it after Bloom County hit the papers, but for a moment, to four year old in 12/1974, B.C. was as big as the Eagles.

  133. Canuckguy
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:34 pm [Reply]

    Me again, yeah, it’s hard to shut me up.

    19: Yeah, I kinda thought it would be neat to see “the strip he died creating”, but, reading the version of the article announcing his passing that was in my local paper, it seemed that he was just working on the storyboard stage of the strip when he passed on, the strip wasn’t (and now, will probably never be) nearly at the “finished” stage yet.

  134. The Avocado Avenger
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:43 pm [Reply]

    #130 Andy L – What can I say, except that what you say is both funny and true.

  135. spd rdr
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:47 pm [Reply]

    That’s just stupid. Johnny Hart was too little a man to insult the Jews, but he was just big enough to insult the Christians.

  136. Evan Waters
    April 9th, 2007 at 9:53 pm [Reply]

    Personally, I hope he’s in a better place, and maybe just a tad surprised at some of the people he sees there.

  137. Dondi
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:12 pm [Reply]

    Skullturf Q. Beavispants #124 asks: Now I’m a bit angry, because I think, “well, why did I bother to be diplomatic and take what I thought was the high road?”

    I for one appreciate the tact you and most others have shown. Don’t let one post get you angry.

    Like many others, B.C. was one of my favorites as a child. I’m a relatively conservative Christian, but I didn’t much care for the strip lately simply because JH committed the cartoonist’s cardinal sin: he stopped being funny. Another case of the message being elevated above the art … with both suffering as a result.

    I may be in the minority here, but I appreciate the classic Peanuts being rerun in the paper and would be interested in seeing B.C. get a similar treatment. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like the direction the family is taking.

  138. heynoni
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm [Reply]

    I wonder if Hart’s proginy will continue the fundamentalist Christian line or make a move back to humour for humour’s sake?

    Oh well, whatever the case, the Hart’s will use it as a means of making money – and good for them – but if ever I have a BC-craving, I’ll just dig up my old BC books from the 70s and enjoy the genuinely funny works.

    If I want preaching, I can read the Bible. Or Family Circus.

  139. Derelict
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:45 pm [Reply]

    Add my post to the echo chamber of “BC was funny, but . . .”

    Despite his declining funny factor in the later years, the guy did manage to crank out the strip day after day. Doing ANYTHING daily for that length of time demands a kind of perserverance that few people have. That alone is worthy of at least some respect.

    As for Bruce Robinson, I honestly cannot think of a more blasphemous, dishonorable, uncharitable thing a supposed “christian” can do that would match his shilling his own work over Hart’s still-warm body. No, Mr Robinson, you will not be seeing Mr. Hart in Heaven, for the simple reason that you will not be going there.

  140. Rex May
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:46 pm [Reply]

    I don’t have anything to say about Johnny Hart. I’m just here to shill for my own cartoons.

  141. Thats The Spirit
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:22 pm [Reply]

    130: Andy: That was hilarious.

  142. Fnord Prefect
    April 9th, 2007 at 11:57 pm [Reply]

    Bruce Robinson (post 115) has been making the rounds, popping in whereever there’s any discussion of Hart’s demise.

    He even posted the same comment, completely verbatim, over at goats.com, where Jon Rosenberg has a somewhat less nuanced take on Hart’s passing that Josh does. That thread is right on the front page

    Fortunately, Robinson wasn’t able to link to his crappy website there.

  143. SixFootJen
    April 10th, 2007 at 1:43 am [Reply]

    90: COTW!!

    130 Andy L. Love, love, LOVE IT.

  144. Marion Delgado
    April 10th, 2007 at 6:17 am [Reply]

    Andy, Johnny would have wanted them to convert Jews and bash Muslims. See, that’s why the family gets to do this, not the nattering naysayers on Comics Curmudgeon. That one’s elementary!

  145. Gap Toothed "Hoo" Guy
    April 10th, 2007 at 6:34 am [Reply]

    #115- Its kind of tacky to fish for hits on your websites using Hart’s demise. Especially sionce you cut and pasted the SAME comment on several different websites.

  146. Marion Delgado
    April 10th, 2007 at 7:59 am [Reply]

    JOSH:

    WIKIPEDIA IS RIGHT THAT HART HAS ALWAYS CO-WRITTEN, NOT “WRITTEN” WIZARD OF ID, AND PARKER ALWAYS DRAWN IT.

    HOWEVER, IN GENERAL DON MARKSTEIN’S TOONOPEDIA IS BETTER ON COMICS. WIKIPEDIA INCORRECTLY CLAIMS PARKER CREATED OUT OF BOUNDS – PARKER, RECHIN AND WILDER CREATED CROCK, RECHIN AND WILDER CREATED OUT OF BOUNDS, AND PARKER LEFT CROCK AFTER A COUPLE OF YEARS.

    Comics:

    BC
    =============
    WRITER: Johnny Hart & family –> Hart family
    ARTIST: Johnny Hart & family –> family using Hart archive.

    ID:
    =============
    WRITER: Hart & Brant Parker –> Brant Parker
    ARTIST: Parker –> Parker

    CROCK
    ==============
    WRITER: Don Wilder & Parker* –> Don Wilder
    ARTIST: Bill Rechin & Parker* -> Bill Rechin
    *Wilder and Rechin did 1st drafts, which Parker rewrote and
    re-drew. Parker wasn’t involved in Crock at all after a couple of years.

    OUT OF BOUNDS
    ================
    WRITER: Don Wilder
    ARTIST: Bill Rechin

  147. Marion Delgado
    April 10th, 2007 at 8:03 am [Reply]

    Oh, I note Don Markstein’s Toonopedia also occasionally slips and associates Parker with Out of Bounds. And Wikipedia’s Out of Bounds entry correctly lists only Rechin and Wilder.

    So no one gets all this right, but if you go to the actual comics, of course they do.

  148. cheech wizard
    April 10th, 2007 at 8:32 am [Reply]

    Frankly, I’m surprised at some of the anger that Bruce Robinson’s post (#115) generated. I generally regard fundamentalist right-wing Christians as loons, but they’re entitlted to express their beliefs the same as everyone else. I think anyone who responded angrily to some of the frequently expressed aethestic beliefs found on this site would be roundly condemmed, so why the venom at the Christians? Looks like some of our aetheists out there are pretty insecure and defensive about their beliefs.

  149. Skullturf Q. Beavispants
    April 10th, 2007 at 10:10 am [Reply]

    Hey, if fundamentalist Christians are entitled to express their beliefs the same as everyone else, then we’re entitled to criticize them the same as everyone else.

    Christianity’s been around for 2000 years. It should be able to withstand some robust criticism. I say: Mock all religions; then the ones left standing, if any, must be the good ones.

    As others have remarked, I think anger is an appropriate reaction to somebody cynically manipulating Johnny Hart’s death to try to gain publicity for their own comic — all the while claiming certain knowledge that they’re headed for Heaven. There’s no other word for that than “arrogant”, and it makes me angry.

    And by the way, it’s “atheist”, not “aetheist”.

  150. punk
    April 10th, 2007 at 10:20 am [Reply]

    While I didn’t care for B.C. in its later years (and even less so for Hart’s politics), this memorial cartoon made me laugh.

  151. Derelict
    April 10th, 2007 at 10:49 am [Reply]

    Cheech–I think you might be a little confused here. I, for one, took (and take) no issue with Robinson’s beliefs. I do, however, take issue with his attempt to use Hart’s demise for his own self promotion. That is disgusting and distasteful. Robinson compounds this by attempting to wrap the entire thing in his faith, thus making it even more loathsome.

    It makes one wonder if Robinson plans on setting up a book-selling table at the funeral home where Hart is laid out. And it makes one wonder just what christian value says it’s a good thing to try to profit from another man’s death.

  152. Gap Toothed \”Hoo\” Guy
    April 10th, 2007 at 10:54 am [Reply]

    Skullturf Q. Beavispants said:
    As others have remarked, I think anger is an appropriate reaction to somebody cynically manipulating Johnny Hart’s death to try to gain publicity for their own comic — all the while claiming certain knowledge that they’re headed for Heaven. There’s no other word for that than “arrogant”, and it makes me angry.

    Especially with ugly websites. Not poking fun, Mr. Robinson, but you seriously need to upgrade the look of that. Frontpage is relatively cheap and Dreamweaver is accesible, depending on your budget. But it looks like a porn site, dude.

  153. cheech wizard
    April 10th, 2007 at 12:02 pm [Reply]

    151 – I saw his remarks more as name-dropping and being a little full of himself, rather than self-promotion – establishing his credentials as a friend and fellow cartoonist. And again, why the anger? I find it peculiar that someone who didn’t care for Hart’s work or him as a person would be angered over a clumsy effort at self-promotion in the guise of a tribute. That’s not the kind of thing that generates a visceral response in most people – but religion does.

  154. Josh
    April 10th, 2007 at 12:12 pm [Reply]

    #153 cheech — if you do a little poking around, you’ll find that this dude has cut and paste essentially this EXACT SAME TEXT onto quite a few blog posts and news stories about Hart’s death. That makes it a little ickier, I think.

    Josh

  155. cheech wizard
    April 10th, 2007 at 1:01 pm [Reply]

    154/Josh – That would be pretty brazen, and icky. But I didn’t see much evidence the posters in question were aware of this, other than one who referred to a single duplicate post. So I still suspect the vitriol was triggered by the religious expression and not the spam.

    Myself, I’m not particularly religious, but I did come from a religious family, so it does bother me when people seem to get irate about mere expressions of faith.

  156. Poteet
    April 10th, 2007 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

    Out of curiosity after reading this discussion, I tried three times to link to Mr. Robinson’s website. The first two times, I could only see blackness with odd red margin decorations. The third time, the website showed me two huge ads, locked up my system, and threw me offline. I’m happy to take the hint.

  157. Joel
    April 10th, 2007 at 1:56 pm [Reply]

    Cheech –

    I am rendered irate by your mere expression of faith. How dare you? (please note: humor/irony)

    All right, back to work everybody. We’re all in this together. There are a lot of awful awful comics being issued by living breathing comic strippers — Family Circus, Gil Thorp, Mary Worth. Those strips are not going to mock themselves, people. Oh wait, yes they will.

    Carry on.

  158. Skullturf Q. Beavispants
    April 10th, 2007 at 2:24 pm [Reply]

    Okay. First of all, I admit that I’ve been angry for the past several days for reasons not related to this site. I just found out the contract for my job will not be renewed, and all my other job applications have been answered with a big fat “no”, and I’m sure this has affected how I sound when I post comments on the internet. I promise to give this topic a rest after this post.

    I don’t have a problem with “expressions of faith” if it means people just mentioning in passing that they’re Christian or Hindu or Muslim or whatever. Nor if they profess some sort of belief in a higher power, nor if they mention that they attend a house of worship and it helps them get through their week.

    But I find it deeply troublesome when someone claims to KNOW they’ll go to Heaven when they die, and then tries to strengthen their argument by quoting the Bible. It’s irritatingly smug to toss in snippets from one of the many rival books that some people have claimed to be divinely inspired, and act like it somehow makes your argument invincible. It’s both simplistic and arrogant, and it offends me and makes me angry.

    Generally, I try to respect people’s beliefs. But you can’t say religious beliefs are forever off-limits from criticism. If religious people are going to try to tell us who can and can’t get married, who can and can’t have abortions, what kids should learn in biology class about the origin of species, and so on and so forth… well, then religious people are going to have to live with their beliefs being questioned and debated, just like anything else in the marketplace of ideas.

    It bothers me when people try to hide questionable and unverifiable beliefs behind an untouchable wall of “respect”. As a nonreligious person, I find it offensive when people try to declare religious people’s beliefs to be more “untouchable” than my beliefs.

    That’s all. Thanks for letting me vent. Feel free to move this to the cockpit if that’s more appropriate.

  159. Joel
    April 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm [Reply]

    Skulturf

    Oh but you’re missing the point. Christians, atheists, jews, bahai, conservatives, liberals, fascist anarchists, all of us, everyone of us was given, at birth, by god or nature, or some other force unknown, an innate ability to detest the family circus. Until we stop calling each other names, and focus on how truly revolting the idea of mary worth having a romantic, and, possibly, sexual, relationship with that guy that went to southeast asia, none of us will ever be who we were meant to be. Right this minute, just today, Gil Thorp issued another comic strip featuring baffling dialogue between sex-less square heads talking about, i dont know, high school basketball or something. The whole fucking strip, every day, day in day out, for years on end, has been about HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS, a subject most high school athletes dont give a shit about, and still it continues to defecate anew each day on our “funny” pages. Every character we waste bemoaning our differences is a character we are not using to bemoan For Better Or For Worse.

    Dont you see? Dont you SEE?!

  160. Joel
    April 10th, 2007 at 2:38 pm [Reply]

    PS
    So sorry about your gig. Better days soon, I hope

  161. cheech wizard
    April 10th, 2007 at 4:09 pm [Reply]

    SQB – Sorry to hear about your job situation – that really blows. Hope things improve shortly.

    Don’t read too much into the “I know I’m going to Heaven” thing — it’s basically a boilerplate expression of faith that conservative Christians use among each other to express their confidence in Jesus – which is the fundamental requirement of the faith. But it can sound arrogant when directed outside that community – and coming from some speakers, probably is.

  162. Skullturf Q. Beavispants
    April 10th, 2007 at 4:12 pm [Reply]

    Thanks, Cheech and Joel. Cheers, SQB

  163. Marion Delgado
    April 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm [Reply]

    that FaithMouse cartoon was good, but that site is dreadful.

  164. MrP
    April 10th, 2007 at 5:26 pm [Reply]

    I just realized, when looking at that strip again, it really doesn’t have any value as a comic. And yet… Yet, that anthill “skool” wasn’t copied and pasted in every panel. Someone actually drew that tiny building thing ten times. I don’t know if I’m impressed that someone actually took the time to do that despite the utter uselessness of it all, or if I’m scared that someone thought it would be worth drawing all those panels.

  165. Baron Von Foobenstein
    April 10th, 2007 at 5:40 pm [Reply]

    Actually, Johnny Phart died over 20 years ago. Just took him a while to get around to realizing it. But we knew it all along.

    I think what finally did him in once and for all was getting “Out-Jesused” by his bitter rivals, Bil and Jef Keane this past Holy Week. Johnny always hated when someone was more Jesusy than him on a given day, and that crucifix-brandishing Thel Keane kicked his Holy Butt.

    My only hope is he gets to the Pearly Gates and is met by hoards of Jews, crooked-nosed “Injuns,” and Italians with big organ-grinder mustaches.

    As for the possibility of continuing BC, foogeddaboudit. The papers should have forced him into retirement ages ago. Many times, I’ve seen good new strips dumped while BC dragged on. This is the ideal time to bid farewell to the 3 or 4 85-year-olds who still think the strip is funny.

  166. Canuckguy
    April 10th, 2007 at 8:14 pm [Reply]

    157: Definitely COTW (or, if not, COTW, at least should be the slogan for this site. “These strips aren’t going to mock themselves, people!”)

  167. Poteet
    April 10th, 2007 at 8:49 pm [Reply]

    # 158 — Skullturf, very sorry about your contract. I hope things will soon be better.

    # 159 — Joel, not nearly enough people in my area are actually using their innate abilities to detest FC, which is why I expect it to continue in my paper until the end of time or the end of the Keane dynasty, whichever comes first. But that’s okay — this site enables me to endure all things comic.

  168. John
    April 10th, 2007 at 9:28 pm [Reply]

    Burn in hell, Johnny Hart.

  169. Marion Delgado
    April 10th, 2007 at 9:33 pm [Reply]

    Oh, I forgot to mention that my comments are hilarious. Just hilarious.

  170. Joel
    April 11th, 2007 at 12:13 pm [Reply]

    161-169
    You’re all “GREAT guys!” When I die, please tell everyone how blessed you feel that I endorsed you.

  171. GhengisJohn
    April 11th, 2007 at 3:02 pm [Reply]

    I think we need to seriously consider that Johnny Hart may also have been a vile kitten eater.

    I mean, judging from some of the comments, I think he had some of theirs.

  172. Baron Von Foobenstein
    April 13th, 2007 at 9:33 pm [Reply]

    Like a damn fool, I checked out Bruce the “cartoonist’s” Web site. You’d have to watch the Baltimore Orioles for a week to see so many popups. Looks like I better run a spyware scan. *sigh*

  173. Timothy R Fletcher
    April 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pm [Reply]

    I knew the man personally for 20 years from 1988 until present. He was never a pusher of his religion he just wanted people to enjoy the life he was afforded by being one of Christ followers. You should all be ashamed for speaking illy of a man who wanted nothing more then to make people laugh. He was the biggest child I knew and I will miss him dearly. So to say he changed when he became a born again Christian is wrong if nothing more he became a better person and loved more then all of you people could combined. God Loved johnny and you should too. I will miss you dearly Johnny you humble student Timothy.

  174. Grulg
    April 16th, 2007 at 9:52 pm [Reply]

    Boys you are a pack of bitter SOBs here. So Johnny Hart was a born-again and he reflected that in his toons. What in the world is wrong w/ that?! If we have to trip over the non-stop political BS of Trudeau or Mallard Fillmore or whatever, it does seem to me that there’s a place for this, too. Hart was a great cartoonist, right up til he died. Yes his strip had peaked back when, but it was still good, it was still funny, it was still well-made. You clowns should do half as well. Morons.

  175. Islamorada Girl
    June 25th, 2007 at 6:41 pm [Reply]

    In the end, he turned into a bitter bigot. Is that a legacy?

  176. Everone
    July 19th, 2007 at 3:08 pm [Reply]

    Dude all I know is that the srtip is funny again, John hart and his family are all awesome

  177. Donald The Anarchist
    October 17th, 2008 at 3:24 am [Reply]

    There’s something hilarious about a thread that devolved first into a condemnation of one poster’s shameless shilling and then petered out into tearful remonstration from some of Johnny’s more subliterate fans having the last few posts consist of idiotic, poorly written Spam. I’d rather see people paid to write bad comics than to write the drivel that’s ostensibly supposed to entice us to buy a product or service.

  178. jelpalils
    February 1st, 2010 at 5:54 am [Reply]

    From the moment the first Mercedes-Benz CLS four-door “coupe” was introduced to the public, other German luxury automakers hit the drafting board. According to the German auto experts at AutoBild, Audi is just over a year away from unleashing its own cleverly packaged sedan.
    carwadontester981

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