JOHNNY HART DIES AT 76

Johnny Hart's B.C.

It is sad that more and more significant people of the golden era of cartoons and animation are passing away. This past weekend saw the death of Johnny Hart, creator of the beloved comic strip B.C. He was 76 when he suffered a fatal stroke on Saturday while he was at his drawing table.

B.C. began its forty-nine year run on February 17, 1958 and is one of the longest running comic strips continually drawn by its original creator. In fact, Hart drew the daily strip up until the day he died!

The cartoon follows B.C., a caveman whom Hart says is modelled after himself. Along with his friends, Peter, Wiley, Clumsy Carp, the Fat Broad, the Cute Chick, Curls, Thor, and Grog, they live their daily prehistoric lives together contemplating life. The jokes often involve puns, dry wit and topical humour. While they live in caveman days, there are many out of context references to modern things like Wal-Mart and the United States.

Hart often brought his religion into the strips which has brought some controversy surrounding his Christian beliefs. The Easter 2001 strip below had Jewish readers complaining that Hart thought Christianity was above their religion. Hart later stated that he was trying to pay tribute to both religions.


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Johnny Hart will be missed. His legacy lives on through the many cartoonists that Hart's work has influenced.