Johnny Hart – We Miss You This Easter Day

(A repost and Easter Day Favorite)

Johnny Hart, who was the master cartoonist behind the “B.C.” cartoon strip as well as the “Wizard of Id,” died of a stroke five years ago on, ironically, on Easter Day.

He had a wry sense of humor that made millions laugh since 1958. “B.C.” was considered the most widely read comic strip on the planet.

Johnny’s conversion to Christianity is an interesting story and came about because of someone who springs from someone who brought faith to the workplace.

Although a churchgoer as a child, he left the faith and eventually found fame and fortune as a cartoonist.
In 1977, he bought a 158-acre property in Nineveh, New York. He couldn’t get cable and a neighbor introduced him to a father-son pair of satellite TV dish salesmen who agreed to wire his place up.
A complicated job, it took the pair over 2 months. As Christians, they kept the Christian channel on as a test channel. Johnny, commenting on the type of TV programs, said, “Is that all there is?” “No Sir, Mr. Hart; we can change to something else!” Strangely, Hart didn’t request a change. He began to watch … and listen.
One Sunday, he and his wife drove by a local church that reminded him of his childhood. He leaned over and asked, “Would you like to go to church?” His wife Bobby said, “No, not really.” Johnny then secretly prayed that God would change her heart; and in just 2 weeks, she asked the church question of him. He found the church, but more importantly, he found his God. He later was a children’s Sunday school teacher.

Hart’s faith began to infect his comic strips.
During Christmas and Easter, he was always blatant about his beliefs.
They worked their way into many other strips – since his faith defined his work. But it wasn’t without controversy.

In fact, in 2001, the Jewish Anti-defamation league chastised him for his strip that showed a seven-branch menorah. Each panel featured one of the Last Seven Words of Jesus. The cartoon concludes with the menorah transformed into a cross.

That’s bold stuff to put on newspaper strips.
“I wanted everyone to see the cross in the Menorah,” he said. “It was a revelation to me that has tied God’s chosen people to their spiritual kin, the disciples of the Risen Christ,”
He took on abortion and evolution in ways that were simply masterful.

A simple argument to tear through the walls of ignorance.
To Hart, the most gratifying thing he ever did professionally was to turn his work into ministry.
“I was almost beginning to get tired of my work until that happened,” he said.
I think it most fitting that God would choose Easter Day to take him.

Click here for his final Easter strip.

Johnny Hart was a true Red Letter Believer, a man who lived out his faith. He didn’t need a pulpit. He had a pen.