Johnny Hart Dead at 76
Posted by Ron Coleman on April 15, 2007
Johnny Hart, the creator BC and The Wizard of Id, has passed away. Creators’ Syndicate did a little tribute (hat tip to Batesline).
Hart was notable for a couple of reasons.
- His comic strips were not brilliant, though they were pretty good. But he had two of them running in a lot of papers — an extraordinary achievement.
- He was instrumental in changing the way comic strip artists and authors benefited from their own work: “Because of his commitment, syndicates no longer insist on ownership when they sign new cartoonists. He had revolutionized an entire industry, and empowered cartoonists to take control of their work and demand the freedoms they enjoy in their contracts today.”
- He wore his Christian faith on his sleeve. Today’s cartoonists are almost all blatantly political, but with the passing of Charles Schulz and Johnny Hart, expressly religious topics aren’t likely to find their way back into comics. Sometimes he stepped on toes — Jewish ones (oversensitive ones, in my opinion) and Muslim ones (perhaps not so oversensitive, actually, based on this story — scroll down), but it was remarkable that he got away as much as he did.
It’s just comics, but I once wanted to draw and write comics and as a child I drew and dabbled quite a bit; one of my high school and college friends grew up to do just that (of course he blogs too), and I envy him a little. I’ll miss Johnny Hart a little, too.
Martin L. Shoemaker said
Ron, 1931-2007 is 76, not 70.
Ron Coleman said
Fixed. Now I know at least one person is paying attention! 😉
soccer dad said
Except outhouses often have crescents on them. Remember Shrek?
Incidentally he once had a great cartoon about the Arab Israeli conflict. It had something to do with foxes near a henhouse (I think) and the punchline was something like “Welcome to the James A Baker school of diplomacy.” I wish I remembered the cartoon better or knew where to find it.
Alan Kellogg said
He had his moments. Such as one Wizard of Id where the king is inspecting the Idiot Navy, and Sir Rodney engineers his getting dumped in the moat. Upon which Rodney remarks, “That should limit inspections to once a year.”
And let’s not forget his French Foreign Legion strip. The one where the commandant had an iron glove he used on the legionaires when he was feeling merciful. Chock full of legionaire movie cliches, with the Johnny Hart twist. (I remember he had the strip, but I can’t remember the name. I do recall it was named after the commandant.)
soccer dad said
Alan, you’re right. The name of the strip was Crock. I guess it was appropriate for a Frenchman.
Martin L. Shoemaker said
What? Did you say something, Ron?