Cartoonist Johnny Hart dies

My favorite Wiley’s Dictionary:

dumbfounded: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

and

patty melt: what happen when Patty stay in sun too long

R.I.P. Johnny

Hmm. Just today, I was thinking about writing to the local paper and asking that they replace B.C. (They recently replaced Cathy with Pearls Before Swine, and Wizard of Id with…I’m not sure.)

He deserves credit for one thing: In the fifties, when newspapers began shrinking comic strip panels to matchbook size (postage stamp size came later), he and Charles Schulz were the first ones to re-gear their styles to work at the intended smaller size. (Gene Dietch and Virgil Partch did something similar, for other media, animation and magazine illustration respectively).

Too bad he got bogged down with his religious proselytizing, but I think it’s healthy to have strips that aren’t in lockstep with the same old same old. Just wish he’d done it in a way that appealed to, well, me.

My goodness. The New York TImes once again disappoints with its obit. In truth they ran the freakin’ AP obit! Nothing in The (London) Times of course. I wanted to learn more about the man and his life.

Clams got legs!

OK, now I have to kill him.

All right, we’ve worked things out, you won’t tell people clams got legs and we don’t have to kill you?

Deal.

Shake!

Clams got arms!

When I was a kid, one of my fondest possessions was a faux stone carved bowl with B. C. characters on it that was given away as a promotion at Marathon gas stations. (Geeze, now I feel old, since I can remember full service stations and their giveaways and S&H greenstamps. :()

Hart was funny once, I wonder if he got to the Pearly Gates only to hear God say to him something similar to what Woody Allen said he worried that aliens would say to him.

Funny B.C. strip.

“Doctors have published a revised health diet.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“We should eat a pound of lard a week.”

The king stands in the turret looking over his kingdom.
A voice from below cries out.

The peasants are revolting!

The king responds.

You can say that again.

The King is standing on the wall looking out.

Sir Rodney, “How goes the war on poverty?”

King, “We’re winning.”

SR, “What about all of those poor peasants?”

K, “They’re losting.”

FWIW, I am a big fan of both The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, and have read the retrospective books of both Gary Larson and Bill Watterson. Watterson claims George Harriman (Krazy Kat), Charles Schultz (Peanuts), and Walt Kelley (Pogo) as his biggest influences in terms of inspiration and style. The book does not specifically allude to Hart or his strips. Larson doesn’t mention Hart as a specific influence either, although, when discussing Amnesty International’s frequent responses to his strips satirizing medieval torture, he asks, “But what I want to know is, does Wizard of Id get these letters?” :slight_smile:

I recall a similar one.

Peasant : “We want you to declare a war on poverty !”

King : “I did !”

Peasant : “Then why are we still poor ?!”

King : “You lost.”
Another good one; the King is standing in front of a kneeling man and holding a large sword with obvious difficulty over him.

King : “I dub thee sir . . .”

< King loses grip, sword drops. Kings eyes go wide >

King : “I dub thee Sir Lefty.”
And another :

Wizard to King : “What if life has no meaning, no purpose ?”

King, with a horrified expression : “I think I’d kill myself !”

Later, Wizard to Sir Rodney : “Our plan is taking shape.”
And there’s the one where the King demanded the Wizard make it rain; the Wizard chants his spells, intones, “Let it rain as far as the eye can see !” - and a cloud appears in the far, far, far distance. The King glares at him.

Wizard : “Well, you have to admit; you can’t see much farther than that !”

Best B.C.?

This is from admittedly faulty memory, from a much earlier period when Hart could work in religious reference AND be funny.

I believe it was either B.C. or Peter reading from a book propped on a rock. “Go forth and multiply,” he reads. Pause. “I don’t even know what I’m doing and I’m batting cleanup?”
Or the strip in which one of the characters suggests they’ve discovered an organ in the body that pumps the blood. “What shall we call it?” a character asks. "How about a ‘hart?’ says another, to which another replies “Bootlicker!” as he glances towards Hart’s signature in the corner. (Very loose paraphrase from bad memory)

Not an inspiration on how to write comics, but as a negative example on why to quit while you’re still more or less on top of your game, as they both did…

Perhaps Hart has been funny of late and perhaps he has not. Let me put it this way: The people who stand diametrically opposite him couldn’t muster anything funny (as opposed to obscene or severely arcane) to save their lives…they’re as funny as a bunch of rats tearing up a sick dog.

…huh?

Expect Zombie Johnny Hart to rise in a couple of days. I, for one, will be prepared with a shotgun.

“The King is a Fink”

“Clam got legs”

“Zot”

These are my memorys of BC and Wizard of Id. R.I.P Johnny Hart.

Wouldn’t it be easier to simply pour concrete over the opening? Or do you figure that it won’t have set up by then and Zombi Johnny Hart won’t have trouble rolling away the stone? :wink:

According to Wikipedia, Hart designed a lot of logos for his native Broome County, New York, playing on his famous strip and the county’s abbreviation “B.C.” (BC Transit- a caveman on a wheel, The BC Open golf tournament- a caveman playing golf, etc.)

Mark Evanier linked to three obituaries on his blog. Paul, you may be interested in this Gannett obit courtesy of the Elmira Star-Gazette. Also, according to Creators Syndicate, which distributes Hart’s work, both B.C. and Id will continue to be done, written by Hart’s family and utilizing archival Hart drawings.