Reply #19: A few points.

[Pab Sungenis]

You missed what I said. My main problem is that Johnny Hart used an already-established platform for his proselytizing, where Trudeau, McGruder, Tinsley, and others, never denied that their features were political in nature. If he had decided to create a new feature for his religious stories, that would have been his privilege, and publishers would have been able to go into it with their eyes open. Repurposing an existing feature like "BC" for religious purposes is, in my opinion, wrong.

All the positive stories I've read about Johnny Hart date from before his "conversion." In recent years he'd become just short of a nutball in his intolerance. Like so many other Christofascists, he was all for his own freedom of speech but against other people's. He felt that he was correct, and thus everyone else was wrong and shouldn't be tolerated.

I never called for his feature to be pulled, but now that it's at a crossroads, we'll need to see where it goes. Unlike most features today, BC is owned by its syndicate, and it's not up to Hart's family what happens from here. Creators Syndicate has the right to bring on a new artist and writer, and keep the strip going, or end it. The right thing would be, in my opinion, to end it, but if they do decide to keep it going, I'd like to see it go back to its neutral roots. No politics, no religion, just humor.

One interesting thing to note here: Hart had made it known he was gunning for a World Record, the longest time continuously writing and drawing the same feature. He's not going to get it. The record, at 55 years, stays in the hands of Ernie ("Nancy") Bushmiller.