April 09, 2007
Johnny Hart, Requiescant In Pace
...
The gentleman at the left is not well known by this undated photograph, but very well known for the cartoon drawn at the right. Yesterday, April 8, 2007 Mr. Heart passed away, sitting at his story board drawing a new B.C. cartoon. He began his strip in 1958 and was syndicated to well over 1300 newspapers throughout the world and was beloved by many. He died while doing what he loved best, cartooning. God rest ye Johnny, you will be missed.
Posted by GM Roper at April 9, 2007 08:13 AM | TrackBack
I always liked B.C.
RIP Mr. Hart, you will be missed...
Posted by TexasFred at April 9, 2007 11:22 AM
Loved it. My favorite:
"Dip in the road."
Posted by Assistant Village Idiot at April 9, 2007 08:30 PM
From the obituary which ran yesterday in the WaPo:
Hart died Saturday while working at his home in Endicott.
"He had a stroke," his wife, Bobby, said Sunday. "He died at his storyboard."
[...]
"He was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we've ever had," Hart's friend Mell Lazarus, creator of the "Momma" and "Miss Peach" comic strips, said from his California home. "He was totally original. 'B.C' broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close."
Even better, this tribute:
Mr. Hart said he was not from a devout family and "got mad at God" after his mother died of cancer at 52. He said he struggled with varieties of faith, including a belief in reincarnation, all the while enjoying the material success of his strips. He settled on a 150-acre property with a big lake and a private road.
One day, a father and son team of workers came to install cable television. They were born-again Christians and kept the television tuned to religious broadcasts, which Mr. Hart said "hooked" him. "B.C." soon became a prominent outlet for his interpretations of faith.
Posted by Always On Watch at April 10, 2007 06:17 AM
BTW, that second link I posted is worth reading in its entirety.
Posted by Always On Watch at April 10, 2007 06:18 AM
