76-year-old Johnny Hart, award-winning creator of the popular B.C. comic series and co-creator of The Wizard of Id with Brant Parker, died this weekend. He apparently suffered a stroke while working at his drawing table at home in Nineveh, Broome County New York, according to his wife.
A funeral will be held Friday.
Hart won several awards for his work , including a public service award from NASA in 1972 for outstanding contributions.
Married for 55 years, the cartoonist had recently battled lymphoma but it was in remission, according to family and friends.
"He was a free spirit who loved everybody, and everything," said Jack Caprio, a childhood friend, collaborator and model for "Clumsy Carp" in the B.C. strip, according to news reports. "He was never embarrassed by doing silly things."
Hart's very occasionally controversial B.C. created in 1957 featuring prehistoric cavemen and dinosaurs has appeared in some 1,300 newspapers worldwide, and made its first national US appearance on 17 February 1958, after being rejected by no less than five syndicates before being accepted for newspaper syndication.
B.C. -- also an also an acronym for Hart's home of Broome County, New York -- is filled with puns and sly digs at modern society. One recent strip showed an ant teacher asking her class, "Who can tell me what secondhand smoke is?" One pupil raised his hand with an answer: "A political speech made by a vice presidential candidate."
B.C. character Thor, credited with inventing the wheel, enjoys life beyond the strip gracing Broome County Transit vehicles as part of their logo, "We Go Where You Go". The local library has also used B.C. imagery to promote its services, all donated freely by Hart, who according to many reports on his death, was an active and generous member of his local community, also designing a much sought afer local gold trophy and more during his long career as an artist.
The Wizard of Id, drawn by Brant Parker, has been distributed since 9 November 1964 and for me is the more memorable strip, partly because it's one I grew up reading in British newspapers. But the sense of humour in both strips is bound up in the work of Hart, aided more recently by family members who have been helping produce the strips for years.
With the help of an extensive computer archive of Hart's drawings, it's some consolation to learn that both strips are to continue.
"As far back as I can remember, I drew funny pictures which got me in or out of trouble depending on the circumstances," the successful comic strip creator recalled for his online Creators Syndicate bio. "The comic strip field is an exciting one. It principally is made up of people who have refused to grow up and who offer marvelous fantasies to those who wish they hadn't."
Hmf. We seem to be in the grip of a vicious circle when it comes to comics in Britain, in terms of sales, perceived value and the like, with the result that, I think, we've lost sight of the fact that the comics we, as a country, generally produce some damm fine comics.
So it's time we started to use some guerilla tactics to get them back in people's faces.
We should be out there, urging people to buy comics. Not in a ram it down your throat way, but subtly:
1) Use the web to our advantage. Tell people The Beano was darn funny this week in an e-mail to someone who might not read comics.
2) Make sure that when you find WH Smiths have yet again left the comics racks in a mess, tidy them up and put the best -- the Beano, the Dandy, TOXIC and yes, Wallace and Gromit, right up front.
3) When WH Smiths decide to cram all the magazines we like into a smaller and smaller spot, so it's harder to find the new ones -- why have all the Panini titles been stuck behind SFX where they can't be seen in my local branch for example? -- write to WH Smiths and complain...
4) Try and persuade your local literature festival, if there is one, to have a comics writer or artist at their next festival. There's plenty around the country: and they're paid for out of your taxes.
5) Ask your local indie cinema to consider a night of comics-related films: I'm sure there's people where who could suggest some that aren't The Punisher or Elektra.
6) When you're having a clear out of comics, don't just recycle them in the green bin... although I'm sure few people reading this would. Take them to the doctors and stick them on top of the piles of five-year-old Reader's Digests. Who cares if someone rips them off? You were getting rid of them anyway. If a kid takes them home and then starts looking the latest issue, it's another convert.
7) Or how about this: if you aren't already, locate your local BookCrossing locations and leave comics or graphic novels there: www.bookcrossing.com
I'm sure none of the above are original ideas, but what the hey. They're worth re-iterating.
Be proud of comics. Support the small press, because there's talent there. Champion them. Don't ever give up.
rant ends...
