The comic strip community is mourning the passing of a legend. Johnny Hart, creator of B.C. and co-creator of The Wizard of Id, died in his home Saturday at the age of 76. Hart suffered a stroke while working at his storyboard.
During nearly 50 years of creating B.C., Hart won multiple National Cartoonists Society awards, as well as the 1968 Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year. He also found time outside of his own daily comic strip to collaborate with Brant Parker on the classic The Wizard of Id. All told, Hart's work appeared daily before an audience of more than 100 million readers worldwide.
Click here to read the full article on MSNBC.com.
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. I feel that upon entering Heaven, Jesus may have said to Johnny something to the effect of "Welcome Home, thy good and faithful servant!"
Posted by: Bruce Robinson, Cartoonist | April 09, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Sorry to hear about this. What's to become of "B.C." and "The Wizard Of Id" now that he's gone?
Posted by: Gil Jared, Jr | April 10, 2007 at 07:19 AM
From the MSNBC.com article:
Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate 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.
Posted by: Josh | April 10, 2007 at 10:37 AM