Johnny Hart passes away from stroke at age 76 (UPDATED, again)
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Johnny Hart, age 76, has died Saturday from a stroke at his drawing board in Nineveh, NY. Johnny is the creator of B.C. and The Wizard of Id.
From an Washington Post story about Johnny’s history:
John Lewis Hart, a firefighter’s son, was born Feb. 18, 1931, in Endicott, N.Y. As a child, he said he drew “funny pictures, which got me in or out of trouble depending on the circumstances.”
After high school, he served in the Air Force in Korea and produced cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes.
The Saturday Evening Post, Colliers and True magazines later published his freelance cartoon submissions while Mr. Hart worked in the art department at General Electric in Johnson City, N.Y. While at GE, he created “B.C.” and based many of the characters and their quirks on his friends and family.
“I tried to reduce my cartoons to the fewest words and the least clutter in the drawing,” he said in 1997. “The simpler you do things, the more genius is required to do it. I used to take ideas as far back as I could take them — back to their origin. So cave men became my favorite thing to do because they are a combination of simplicity and the origin of ideas.”
His survivors include his wife, Bobby Hatcher Hart; two daughters; a brother; a sister; and two grandsons.
I extend my condolences and hope that his family may find solace in their faith.
I’ll post more news as more details roll in.
UPDATE: I’ve received an email from Kathy Kei at Creators and she confirms that the strip will continue, but the details about how and who are still being ironed out. Will post additional news as I get it.
UPDATED AGAIN: I’ve received another email from Kathy Kei at Creators who says this:
“B.C.” and “The Wizard of Id” will definitely be continued. Johnny had always intended for the strips to survive with the participation of his family. They have been involved for years. I think many people would say, and we think Johnny would agree, that after a creator has passed away, memorable cartoon characters take on a life of their own, like Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, like Charles Shulz’s Snoopy, and like Johnny’s characters. This is why we intend to keep the Johnny Hart byline.
“B.C.” will be continued by the Hart family (Johnny’s daughters and grandsons), and “The Wizard of Id” will go on as usual with the participation of Jeff Parker, Brant Parker’s son, and Hart’s family.
That’s the same language that you’ll now find on the Creator’s web site.
Rick Newcombe has written an In Memoriam as well recounting his personal and business relationship with Johnny over the years.
He was modest, as always, and tried to shift the credit back to me, but I told him that 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.
After Charles Schulz died in 2000, Johnny told me that he wanted B.C. and The Wizard of Id to continue after his death, and he spoke on that occasion, and subsequently, about how proud he was of his two daughters and two grandsons, all of whom have been involved with both comic strips over the years. I see in them his wit and remarkable sense of humor, as well as his genius for simple but beautiful artwork.
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