Johnny Hart, the creator of the ‘B.C.’ cartoon strip, passed away yesterday of a stoke. According to his wife, he died at his story board where he worked on his cartoon strips.

I will miss Johnny Hart, although I hope that the papers will continue to print reruns of his strips for years to come. Each year on Christmas and Easter I knew that I could expect a ‘B.C.’ strip with a clear Christian message. In a world in which there is immense pressure to hide your faith, Hart set an example by courageously sharing the Christian message through his humor. Because of his outspoken Christianity he endured some controversies and some papers dropped his comics, but he continued to stand firm.

There is a wikipedia article on Hart, which has already been updated to include his death. The article describes his conversion through the witness of a father-son contractor team that installed a satellite dish. Starting in 1977, there was a noticeable shift in his strip to include Christian themes. Only in heaven will we know the full impact of the faithful witness of those contractors. You can read more about his life and conversion in this biography and this story about his Christian convictions.

Good bye Johnny Hart. See you in heaven!

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3 Comments

  1. There’s a great writeup at: (link no longer works)

    which includes:

    One of B.C. cartoons the LA Times first refused to run was his Palm Sunday 1996 strip featuring the famous character Wiley sitting against a tree, tablet in hand, writing a poem entitled “The Suffering Prince.” Here’s the poem:

    Picture yourself tied to a tree,
    condemned of the sins of eternity.
    Then picture a spear, parting the air,
    seeking your heart to cut your despair.
    Suddenly—a knight, in armor of white,
    stands in the gap betwixt you and its flight,
    And shedding his ‘armor of God’ for you—
    bears the lance that runs him through.
    His heart has been pierced that yours may beat,
    and the blood of his corpse washes your feet.
    Picture yourself in raiment white,
    cleansed by the blood of the lifeless knight.
    Never to mourn,
    the prince who was downed,
    For he is not lost! It is you who are found.

  2. oops, I thought I had the line breaks! Follow the link and see that wonderful poem properly formatted.

    “Never to mourn, the prince who was downed, For he is not lost! It is you who are found.”

  3. Hi Mark,

    Thanks for sharing the poem. I’m sorry that WordPress striped out all the line breaks.

    It’s sad that the LA Times thought it necessary to censor this poem.

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