Johnny Hart’s “B.C.” was one of my favourite comic strips growing up in the 1970s-80s. I loved everything about it: the various cast of cavemen (and women), the non-human cast (dinosaurs, ants, snakes, turtles, wingless birds), the prehistoric landscapes (rolling mountains, volcanoes and the vast ocean) and how his clever humour and physical comedy came to life in the “world” he created.
I remember flipping around the dial in December of 1982(?) and stumbling upon “A Special Christmas,” the B.C. animated Christmas special. It was a big deal — comic strips from the newspaper were rarely put into animation and I instantly was overwhelmed at seeing everything I loved about the comic come to life on TV.
“A Special Christmas” has kind of been lost to history — that was the one and only time I ever watched it, until I began searching for it again on the interwebs a few years ago. Admittedly, the story is a bit weak: it’s a zany story of the two unscrupulous cavemen — Peter and Wiley — who think up a great scheme: create a legend about giving and then sell gifts so everyone can give their neighbours a present on Dec. 26th. But, to their great surprise they find that their myth has become a reality; a day earlier. It’s a loose premise, but if you’re a fan of comic strips — specifically “B.C.” — you won’t want to miss it. Visually, it’s a treat and I also thought they did a nice job applying voices to the various characters in the “B.C.” universe. Merry Christmas!
Today – after almost two decades of sketching, designing, writing, drawing, re-drawing and dreaming about creating my very own comic strip – I’m thrilled and proud to announce that Planet Joey is being officially released out into the public domain.
As a child growing up in a small town in southwestern Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s, I couldn’t wait for Saturday mornings. I’d hop out of bed and fly down the stairs into our living room where my parents would be consuming their morning coffee/tea and reading the London Free Press. I would hurriedly dig through the remaining sections lying on the floor, searching for the colour comics and proceed to stain my fingers with newsprint ink diving into the classic strips like Peanuts, Shoe, BC, Broom Hilda, Calvin & Hobbes, Garfield, Hägar the Horrible, Robotman, Dennis the Menace, For Better or for Worse and yes, there was even a serialized Star Wars comic during some of those years! At the time, I was also influenced by comic books like Pink Panther and Bullwinkle and Rocky, not to mention my growing collection of Tintin books. As an artistic kid, I dreamed of one day creating a comic strip that might appear in a printed collection or a newspaper. It would take many years to see that dream come to fruition, but here we are – even if newsprint isn’t involved (yet).
Planet Joey started as an idea in my head sometime in the late 1990s while I was working as a graphic designer and also teaching at Sheridan College in the Art Fundamentals & Illustration programs. Some character designs and ideas for storylines and gags made it into sketchbooks and the basic comic strip emerged in 2003 shortly after my son was born. Since then, I’ve worked on it in fits and starts, filling sketchbooks with drawings and notes, but never having the sustained focus to see it through. Until now.
Charles Schulz said “The only way a comic strip distinguishes itself from all other media is to intrinsically combine words and pictures into a wholly new and elevated sum. Without the intertwining pictures, it’s just radio. Without the words, it’s just pantomime.” Schulz redefined the comic strip in the 1950s and 1960s. Many since have imitated it, some have emulated it. In a way, we’re all drawing Peanuts. Michael Jantze – creator of The Norm – said “The modern comic strip is like a poem: short, repetitive and, yeah, no one reads it.” He wasn’t wrong, but in some ways, comic strips have a certain new relevance in the year 2020. In a time when there is so much content out there for consumption and attention spans are short, a comic strip has the ability to connect – to tell a story, make you smile or just to make you stop and think – for a few seconds. My hope for Planet Joey is that it settles into its own comfort zone somewhere between the classic gag-a-day strips and a graphic novel. Something like… an ‘epic’ poem, perhaps?
What I’m getting at here is that being finally able to share this comic strip with you is a pretty special thing for me. I hope you enjoy the characters and the stories they have to tell. I hope you appreciate the art. I hope the comics put a smile on your face or at the very least, transport you away from your busy world, to Joey’s home of Cold Springs at least for a minute or two every day and back again.
