B.C. Best Newspaper Comic Strip National Cartoonist Society 1989, B.C. is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Johnny Hart. Set in prehistoric times, it features a group of cavemen and anthropomorphic animals from various geologic eras. B.C. made its newspaper debut on February 17, 1958, and was among the longest-running strips still written and drawn by its original creator when Hart died at his drawing board in Nineveh, New York on April 7, 2007.

The strip was then produced by Hart's grandsons Mason Mastroianni (head writer and cartoonist) and Mick Mastroianni (writer for both B.C. and Hart's other creation, The Wizard of Id), and Hart's daughter Perri (letterer and colorist). It is syndicated by Creators Syndicate.
Character inspiration.

Hart was inspired to draw cavemen (and many other creatures) through the chance suggestion of one of his coworkers at General Electric, and took to the idea "because they are a combination of simplicity and the origin of ideas." The name for the strip "may have been suggested by my wife, Bobby", Johnny recalls. Hart was born and lived his entire life in Broome County, New York, and freely donated the use of his characters to the county parks, public transit lines, many community organizations and local sports teams including the logos for Binghamton, New York's minor league hockey teams, (see Hometown).

Hart describes the title character as similar to himself, playing the "patsy". The other major characters—Peter, Wiley, Clumsy Carp, Curls, and Thor—were patterned after friends and co-workers. The animal characters include dinosaurs, ants and an anteater, clams, a snake, a turtle and bird duo, and an apteryx (presented in the strip as being the sole surviving specimen, and hence self aware of its being doomed to extinction).

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