B.C. by Mastroianni and Hart for August 04, 2017

Haha oh man, I can’t wait to see all the negative comments for this one! If anyone doesn’t know, Stephan Pastis does ‘Pearls Before Swine,’ and I’m a big fan of the strip.

Cue ‘BC isn’t funny anymore’ comments in 3…2…1…

I think the relative silence says it all.

BC is charming. It isn’t necessary for every strip to be a gut-buster…

“Fourth wall” has been done a lot in comics. Sometimes, it’s expected, like PbS or Overboard. Sometimes, it’s the raison d’être, like Bob the Squirrel or Knight Life. And other times, it’s just surprising ~ I can’t think of any examples off hand, but it’s often fun when a strip acknowledges it’s a strip.And the first time I saw it was in a little strip called “BC” where Peter discovered we have a little pump inside us that makes us go and pronounced it a “hart.” One of the other cavemen replied “bootlicker.”One more point ~ George Burns on tv did it All The Time.

This whole 4th wall stuff is BS

Makes me miss Johnny all the more.

Pastis has quite a thing going with other cartoonists … it’s fun to read both ends of it. Hint: Get hold of Pastis’ Treasuries … good stuff (my library carries them).

Hmm…. I won’t troll you. Honest. I’ll just snark and make jokes. That’s okay, no?

Writer’s block?

After reading this strip for more than 55 years, no trolling from me. This week has been consistent with the long, rich history of the strip. Keep rollin’.

As Johnny Hart wrote when the bird got his beak stuck on a crescent moon and was left hanging by the turtle… “it’s good to know that absurdity is still alive and well…” (I think I paraphrased that)

Breaking the “third” or “fourth” wall is a time honored tradition in this strip, from the beginning, and part of its charm. One of the best TV holiday specials ever (the B. C. Thanksgiving one) used it from the start. The technique can be subtle (Sandra Boynton, Bill Watterson) or not. But it involves the reader/viewer, and that’s always good.

I like wall-breaking strips myself and thoroughly enjoy it when cartoonists interact in their strips.

“Copying Pastis???” This kind of wall breaking goes waaaaay back before Pastis was born. Mutt and Jeff did this a lot. The signature often spoke to them, and they called creator Bud Fisher ‘the boss.’ Pastis has joined a grand tradition.

I don’t care what it is called, I like “BC” and will read it whenever, and wherever it is made available. It is a well drawn and well written strip. Just enjoy the humor, lots or not, and stop being so darn picky about everything in life.

Wow, people think about this to much. Just have the fat chick pound a snake.

Thanks to those of you who explained the fourth wall yesterday. Now I at least understand what’s going on!

YAY! Kudos to all who defended the beloved BC!

YAH PASTIS!!! send rat, with his bat, over to BC and take Mason on – WAR OF THE COMIC STRIPS!!!!and the fat broad can hit rat back with her club!

Breaking the fourth wall is fine and fun when not overused, but I’m wondering how many of your (newspaper) readers even know who Pastis is. Today’s gag totally depends on the reader being a regular reader of “Pearls Before Swine.”

Pastis likes to make puns, which is usually why his characters get mad at him. I like when he makes a big, elaborate pun which he hasn’t done in a long time. He has yet to top “dunk rye for me, Arch and Tina!”

Really enjoy BC. Tried Pastis and dropped it. To each his/her own. More turtle and bird, fat broad and snake, please.

More! More! More! More, please!!!!

Love it

I find this funny as all get out. For the naysayers… stop reading and go elsewhere!

…oooOOOoooooo…

The gauntlet has been thrown down!

I think sometimes the characters take over and the cartoonist is forced to go along!

For me, breaking the 4th wall is not the issue. Doing it humorously is.