Posted on 10/29/2013 10:06:13 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Dying of a stroke on April 7, 2007, Johnny Hart, creator of the caveman comic strip B.C., could not have arranged a departure with more evocative symbolism. He died with his boots on, so to speak—at his drawing board, like the dedicated brandisher of pencil and pen he was. But he wasn’t at his drawing board because he was chained to it, like most of his brethren, by the perpetual deadlines of the syndicated cartoonist.
[SNIP]
Hart was in his studio by choice, not servitude. The studio’s atrium—30 feet high, the walls richly paneled—is filled with incidental amusements, two pool tables, a piano and set of drums, a bar and exercise equipment, but its most engaging feature is a panoramic picture window overlooking Hart’s 25-acre lake on his 250-acre estate.
[SNIP]
Another reason for saying that April 7 was symbolic is that it was a Saturday, the day before Easter, and if Hart had to pick the day of his death, he might well have chosen that day in the Christian calendar. Holy Saturday, which he usually called “kick-butt Saturday,” is the day before the annual remembrance of the Resurrection, and Hart fully expected to be resurrected.
A “re-committed” fundamentalist Christian who taught Sunday School every week in the little Presbyterian church in the nearby New York town of Ninevah, Hart frequently delivered sermons in his comic strip. Said Maxwell: “Hart believes the Lord put him into the cartooning world for a reason. Every prudent chance he gets, he takes advantage of it. On Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter—and many days between—Hart’s characters offer messages reflecting the cartoonist’s own firm belief in the gospel message. ‘I find myself trying to put the gospel into practically every strip I create without being obvious about it,’ he says.”
(Excerpt) Read more at tcj.com ...
Thank you.
Very nice.
I am sure that he is.
Really always appreciated B.C. comics around Christmas and Easter.
Thanks for the ping. Yes, I took my screen name from the sound lightning makes in the BC comic strip. Johnny Hart did a lot of good with his Christian testimony. May he rest in peace.
Your finding and posting this, I sure appreciate.
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