Cartoonist Johnny Hart Dies
B.C. cartoonist Johnny Hart died today:
“He had a stroke,” Hart’s wife, Bobby, said on Sunday. “He died at his storyboard.”
“B.C.,” populated by prehistoric cavemen and dinosaurs, was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate, Inc., which distributes it.
When I was a kid the comics page was the first and only part of the paper I cared about. I read Peanuts and Garfield like anyone else. Blondie was read because Dagwood’s humongous sandwiches always made me hungry. Cathy was avoided because I didn’t understand all the single woman angst jokes. For me B.C. was lumped together with Hagar the Horrible and the Wizard of Id. All three were set in fantastic places yet they told contemporary jokes. If anything you couldn’t help but laugh at the juxtaposition.
Years went buy and comic strips became less interesting to me. I’ve longed for more sophisticated humor, especially if it’s politically tinged. So I got tired of B.C.’s brief, quickly forgettable bits.
I’ve passed up the comics section of the newspaper for over a decade. I had no reason to. I rarely laughed at Doonesbury, and Boondocks seethed with pure animosity making it unreadable. When Berkley Breathed returned with Opus the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel didn’t run it so a friend had to mail the strips to me. Even then Breathed jokes weren’t as punchy and succinct as his Bloom County masterpieces.
After Bill Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the height of its popularity I amazes me Johnny Hart went on for nearly 50 years. That showed Hart’s stamina, talent, and the ability to connect with so many readers.
Godspeed, Johnny.
“B.C. Comic Strip Creator Johnny Hart Dead at 76″
“Johnny Hart, R.I.P.”
