So I am guessing that Johnny Hart's death is going to open up a slot in the papers, unless they get Ann Coulter to take over his writing duties. I can think of no better use for that slot than to replace dinosaurs with ROBOTS.
If your newspaper was carrying B.C., maybe think about writing the comics editor and asking them to replace it with some Diesel Sweeties? Believe it or not, a letter or two really does have an effect on these sorts of decisions.
I could dream of no better justice than seeing Hart's ancient, creaky hate replaced with Stevens' well-oiled, steamy love.
| 38% (436) | Oh Yeah | |
| 18% (205) | No Way | |
| 43% (495) | I prefer not to think about things |
I read that the comic will continue to run for the forseeable future, though. For some years, he's been getting help on it from his family, anyway. Even though dead, he'll still be hard to get rid of.
B.C. has been fairly sucktastic for the past ten years or so, but from the 50's through the 70's it was one of the best comics going. I'm really sad to hear that his family will continue milking the strip. They should let it die before they completely obliterate his legacy.
If we grant that BC was alright through the 1970s, we're talking about 27 years, not "ten-or-so." Not to quibble, it's just that I'm 35 and can't really remember a time when BC wasn't mediocre-to-fairly-appalling-and-offensive in quality and content.
But maybe that's just me and my liberal bias--it's likely someone will have all sorts of nasty things to say when Gary Trudeau kicks the bucket. But personally, I'm not only not upset that Hart finally has had the chance to get see if his ol' bud Jesus is still hanging around out there, but I'm mildly disappointed that his timely demise hasn't cancelled his strip. I mean, you might have thought this would have opened a door for Little Dee or somesuch, but no. And that's the real loss, sorry.
But maybe I'm just a jerk.
I can't remember my old logon or registration from when I was a premium member, and I'm lazy--so I'm anonymous. But I'm #37772, for whatever that's worth.
The bigger offense I'd accuse Hart of is not being funny and kind of being an asshat, not the offense of "expressing controversial opinions." And that doesn't really get mitigated by the fact he's dead and we're supposed to be charitable. I'm reminded, somewhat, of watching Nixon's funeral on TV back in college, and one commentator (I can't remember who it was) began pointing out how many of the VIPs gathered once wouldn't have crossed the street to spit on him, to which the network anchor--I want to say it was Brokaw--sputtered something about, "Well... he's dead!" as if that crossed out various criminal and hateful acts by the horrid (and now dead) former president.
No, I'm not comparing Hart to Nixon. The point is that I do think there's a limit to "respecting the dead." I would like to think that when I die, I will have been decent enough that no one will mock my corpse, but if I haven't and they do, that's really my fault, isn't it? And I hope my family is honest enough, if that happens, to say, "Yeah, Eric really was a dick, now that you mention it."
On a related note, as it happens, I like making people laugh when the opportunity comes up. Although I won't possess the consciousness to enjoy it, a pair of Hindu gents laughing at my corpse might be considered a fitting coda to my gig, sorta like a quick scene after the credits roll in a teen summer comedy.
One last, parting thought: I don't believe I said hate was bad, because I don't necessarily believe that. Hating a bad thing--injustice, or poverty, or cruelty, or stupidity--isn't necessarily a bad thing at all when taken in appropriate dosages and with a sense of perspective. But then, I did concede maybe I'm just a jerk. Cheers.
The only way that B.C. will get out of most newspapers is if not one single elderly or maternal right-wing nutjob writes in to complain that there aren't any comics representing "American values" in the paper, and where would we be if we weren't a God-fearing, Christian nation?
and where would we be if we weren't a God-fearing, Christian nation?Bizarro Earth, a.k.a. the best of all possible worlds
Johnny was a GREAT guy! I really appreciate and admire his stand for the Lord. I feel blessed to have known him personally and also feel blessed that he endorsed my cartoon book GOOD MEDICINE (religious "FAR SIDE"-type cartoons). Since he was a fellow Christian, I KNOW that he is with Jesus now in Paradise (ref. 1 John 5:13), since the Bible talks about a believer being present with the Lord when they are absent from the body (ref. 2 Cor. 5:8)! Please pray for his wife's (Bobby) and family's comfort at this time. He will be TRULY missed, but I look forward to the time when I can hang out with him in Heaven and reminisce about cartooning times here on earth. Johnny believed in what Jesus said in the Bible in John 3:16; "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." I feel that upon entering Heaven, Jesus may have said to Johnny something similar to "Welcome Home, thy good and faithful servant!"
I can't believe some whack-job Fundie saw fit to post Bible quotes here, and to claim Johnny was a great guy. He may have been okay personally, but was little more than a right-wing shill and his strip hasn't been funny for years.
It's even more pathetic that it'll be kept in a perpetual Schaivo state by his family using computer-generated art. Zero new ideas or talent required...just the same old recycled jokes.
This guy is beyond revolting. He's been making the rounds to every single thread he can find on the internet about Hart's death and posting the same response, verbatim. The difference is, on the thread he was unable to link back to his own website, which is what he's done everywhere else. He's using the most ghoulish method possible to drum up traffic for his site.
Even if he did know Hart personally, it's a pretty shitty way to remember a dead friend.
I think it's hilarious. Best laugh I've had all day, and it's only 8:35am, so you know things are looking up!
Is everybody insulting the dead guy?
Rarrr! Zombie Cartoonist! Rarr!!
WTF?
At least Shultz's estate had the decency to let the comic run out and then not have it recycled in perpetua, for frig's sake Calvin and Hobs is on constant rerun, and there are papers still running that hatefull peice of mysogism Andy Capp. Are you surprised that Murdoch and the rest of the print media whores will run that hordid peice of hate mongering Christian agitprop untill the rapture comes?
...people are STILL running Andy Capp? Wasn't that the delightful one about beating your wife and drinking to solve your problems?
Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to comment about Johnny Hart. Basically, my opinions of him are dated from when I stopped reading the syndicated "comics" in the newspaper (right around the turn of the millenium), when he, like just about every other cartoonist in the rags these days, seemed to have only a few jokes, all of which were from the 60's to 70's. It was like watching Looney Tunes, only less funny. You know the ones where Bugs will open his mouth and say something about the "insert social group here" and pause for laughter, and we all wince? Yeah...
However, given that, I would also like to say that BC was not the worst piece of tripe out there. I think "hate-mongering" is a bit strong.
Still, given a choice between recycling Reagan-era right-wing "humor" or giving talented young writers a chance to prove themselves, I think my opinion has been made clear.
Sometimes we read things that havent been funny in years.
I, for example, read Garfield for over a decade, and maybe cracked one smile. I dont know why.
Or I remember reading goats back in college. When it was funny.
Tolerance is highly overrated. I'm a fairly conservative Christian and I didn't like the guy.
I didn't mind his occasional strip expressing his love for Jesus or something like that... I actually think that is great.
On the other hand... He surrendered the moral high ground when he decided to backhand Jews, Islam, and the Japanese (I'm sure there are others but those are the only ones I remember).
If people are intolerant of his intolerance I say he's fair game. If they dislike him just because he was a Christian then you have a point... but I don't think that is the case.
Lets all take a moment to bad mouth a comic that is only funny to a small niche audience, as we come every day to read a comic that is only funny to us, a small niche audience.
For we nerds are clearly vastly superior to those silly Christians.
I will be more than amused when the atheist member of his family (there's always one) seizes control and attempts to undo the last 50 years of theism in about five weeks' worth of storyline. When it wasn't preaching, the comic was actually pretty good (ok, once a month maybe), so if we can just wrest it from the God-fearing to the alcohol-loving, it's in business.
