Anna L. (annalovesbooks) reviewed I Did It His Way: A Collection of Classic B.C. Religious Comic Strips on
ISBN 1404187391 - I grew up loving B.C.! Books of this strip are still among my favorite pick-me-ups, perfect for a chuckle. The baseball cartoons rank, even now, as among the things I would frame and hang on my wall. That said, I lost interest in reading Hart's work on a daily basis long ago, without ever being able to pinpoint the precise reason. This collection, finally, highlights the reason that my once favored series just sort of fell off my radar.
Two years after creator Johnny Hart's death, his wife and family have compiled many of his religious-themed B.C. strips into a book. With only a few, short personal stories, the bulk of the book is given to the strips. Not every strip here is strictly religious - just a mention of god was sufficient to get some lighter works included. From specifically Easter or Christmas cartoons to broader topics ("What are we here for?", religion in public schools, etc), Hart's characters confront religion much like anyone else: with curiosity, wonder, and even disbelief. To pluck my favorite from the many: Post-9/11 - The Midnight Skulker stands before a wall, having written "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. '...I will never leave you nor forsake you.' - Jesus" He paints from cans marked "NYFD" and "NYPD" and a pair of smoking volcanoes in the background recall the Twin Towers. Powerful stuff, made me sniffle.
Hart won 18 awards for his B.C. works (they're all listed in the book). It is no surprise to me that 12 of those awards came before 1984. In comparison, a mere six were won after that date, when Hart found his god and introduced him into the cartoon. For this non-believer, there's no small irony in the fact that B.C., widely accepted to mean "Before Christ", was a great cartoon that lost much of its appeal to me when Hart found religion. On the other hand, the story of how Hart found his religion is hilariously perfect, though I'm not sure if the intention of that story was to be funny or not. Feeling that something is missing from his life, he orders satellite television (of course). The installers use a Christian channel for testing the signal and the exposure leads the lost lamb to his god. Really - and I'm not poking fun, I'm just amused - would you believe that story from anyone else? But I believe it from Johnny Hart!
The hardcover book doesn't have a dustjacket; the cover is stark and clean, leaving the bold red "HIS" a bright, brilliant statement all by itself. Some strips are the simple weekday black and white, but most are the Sunday version in full color. By now, you probably think the religious tone is the reason I'd give the book 3 stars, but it isn't. I love compilations like this, in general, because they give fans a chance to collect an iconic comic strip without all those stray bits of newsprint. What I thought was missing was a sense of order. As always, the strips contain a date (MM-DD) but the date doesn't include a year, nor does the book contain any reference to year and the strips aren't in any apparent order. That omission meant, for me, no chance to see Hart's progression over time. Good stuff, just not great stuff.
- AnnaLovesBooks
Two years after creator Johnny Hart's death, his wife and family have compiled many of his religious-themed B.C. strips into a book. With only a few, short personal stories, the bulk of the book is given to the strips. Not every strip here is strictly religious - just a mention of god was sufficient to get some lighter works included. From specifically Easter or Christmas cartoons to broader topics ("What are we here for?", religion in public schools, etc), Hart's characters confront religion much like anyone else: with curiosity, wonder, and even disbelief. To pluck my favorite from the many: Post-9/11 - The Midnight Skulker stands before a wall, having written "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. '...I will never leave you nor forsake you.' - Jesus" He paints from cans marked "NYFD" and "NYPD" and a pair of smoking volcanoes in the background recall the Twin Towers. Powerful stuff, made me sniffle.
Hart won 18 awards for his B.C. works (they're all listed in the book). It is no surprise to me that 12 of those awards came before 1984. In comparison, a mere six were won after that date, when Hart found his god and introduced him into the cartoon. For this non-believer, there's no small irony in the fact that B.C., widely accepted to mean "Before Christ", was a great cartoon that lost much of its appeal to me when Hart found religion. On the other hand, the story of how Hart found his religion is hilariously perfect, though I'm not sure if the intention of that story was to be funny or not. Feeling that something is missing from his life, he orders satellite television (of course). The installers use a Christian channel for testing the signal and the exposure leads the lost lamb to his god. Really - and I'm not poking fun, I'm just amused - would you believe that story from anyone else? But I believe it from Johnny Hart!
The hardcover book doesn't have a dustjacket; the cover is stark and clean, leaving the bold red "HIS" a bright, brilliant statement all by itself. Some strips are the simple weekday black and white, but most are the Sunday version in full color. By now, you probably think the religious tone is the reason I'd give the book 3 stars, but it isn't. I love compilations like this, in general, because they give fans a chance to collect an iconic comic strip without all those stray bits of newsprint. What I thought was missing was a sense of order. As always, the strips contain a date (MM-DD) but the date doesn't include a year, nor does the book contain any reference to year and the strips aren't in any apparent order. That omission meant, for me, no chance to see Hart's progression over time. Good stuff, just not great stuff.
- AnnaLovesBooks
