Line #2 ComicStrip/BC


1	[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BC_caveman_2449.jpg]]
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3	''B.C.'' is an American newspaper comic strip created in 1958 by Johnny Hart. It focuses on a small band of cavemen, led by one named B.C. Others in the strip include Peter, Clumsy Carp, Curls, Thor, Wiley, Grog, the Fat Broad and the Cute Chick (both named Jane and Grace, respectively, as of 2019). There is also a cast of talking animals that includes John the Tortoise, Dookie Bird, a family of ants, an anteater, dinosaurs, clams, snakes and an apteryx: [[RunningGag a small wingless bird with hairy feathers]] (a.k.a. a kiwi to the rest of us).
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5	Initially, ''B.C.'' was a gag-a-day strip. After Hart became a born-again Christian in 1977, the strip gradually began adding more and more of Hart's [[WriterOnBoard religious and political beliefs]] until most strips were Christian-themed. Some newspapers refused to print certain strips that were deemed overly proselytizing. After Hart's death in 2007, it reverted to a mostly gag-a-day strip maintained by grandson Mason Mastroianni (who also took over Hart's other strip, ''ComicStrip/TheWizardOfId'').
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7	B.C. also had a brief stint as a video game character, with ''VideoGame/BCsQuestForTires'', released by Creator/{{Sierra}} in 1983. A sequel, entitled ''Grog's Revenge'', was released a year later in 1984.
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10	!!Tropes present
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12	* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: Gronk tried speaking long before [[SuddenlySpeaking he found his voice]] but could only manage nonsense words, which happen to be acronyms. The entire strip for that day has him saying things like "ASCAP" and "NAACP".
13	* AfraidOfClowns: A strip from [[http://www.gocomics.com/bc/2013/11/07#mutable_1075050 November 7th 2013]]. The Adder (Snake) complains about the Fat Broad beating him with her club. The Apteryx advises him to dress up as something she doesn't fear. The Adder dresses up in a clown outfit and she clobbers him anyway, making it clear that she fears clowns.
14	* AnachronismStew: Parodied and Exaggerated. For a supposedly prehistoric comic strip, it's had references to movies, hippies and several other things that didn't exist until modern times (not to mention that Clumsy Carp wears glasses). Plus it's called B.C. (Before Christ) and is about Christian cavemen who celebrate Christmas, a holiday about the guy they worship before that guy was born. Some strips hint that it may actually take place AfterTheEnd and EarthAllAlong.
15	-->'''The Fat Broad:''' (answering a ringing telephone) Prehistoric times. (suddenly realizes what she's doing and runs away screaming) A TELEPHONE!!
16	* AnimatedAdaptation: Two television specials, made eight years apart by two different studios.
17	** ''B.C.: The First Thanksgiving'' (1973) features the voices of Creator/DawsButler as B.C., Creator/DonMessick as Peter, and Creator/MelBlanc as John the Turtle.
18	** ''B.C.: A Special [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas]]'' (1981) features the voices of Radio/BobAndRay as Peter and Wiley respectively.
19	* AsideGlance: Happens quite often after a character does something unusual or stupid.
20	* AuthorTract: After Johnny Hart became a born-again Christian, he began injecting his religious beliefs into more and more strips. One particularly controversial one featured a menorah turning into a cross.
21	* AwfulWeddedLife: The ants Jake and Maude.
22	* BallisticDiscount: An [[FunnyAnimal ant]] tries to buy a pack of cigarettes but is underage. He asks to buy a gun instead, then points the gun and asks for the cigarettes again.
23	* BambooTechnology: Among other things, a telephone built into a tree.
24	%%* BigFriendlyDog: Wolf, more or less.
25	* BizarreAndImprobableGolfGame: Characters have actually been known to make golf swings while hanging by their feet from a tree branch. For a bonus, there's Bizarre And Improbable cheating when Clumsy Carp balances a submerged golf ball on his nose and raises it out of the water for a friend to hit, in exchange for a share of the winnings. Another time, B.C. (or possibly Thor) somehow wound up, after his swing, with the ball balanced on the head of his club. Consulting the massive rule book, Peter found a rule that "covers it explicitly," and told the unlucky fellow they had to shoot him.
26	* BoxAndStickTrap: In [[http://johnhartstudios.com/bc/2013/02/25/monday_february_25_2013 the strip for 2-25-13]], Thor has set up this kind of trap. When he hears it fall he goes to open it. He finds the Fat Broad inside, holding the piece of cheese he used as bait.
27	-->'''Thor:''' Diet not going well? \
28	'''Fat Broad:''' Be quiet and close the lid.
29	* CassandraTruth: Early on when B.C. himself discovered the secret that the clams had been hiding.
30	-->'''B.C.:''' Clams got legs!
31	* CatchPhrase: "Great Zot!"
32	* ChildlessDystopia: There are no children in the cast at all, at least among humans. (There are a few among ants and other animals.) Why this is the case has never been addressed.
33	* ClamshellsAsMouths: Clams use the two halves of their shells as a mouth, and even walk around on shore on two legs! They're most notable for observing some phenomenon, and broadcasting the news loudly, such as "DINOS GOT WHEELS!"
34	* ClamshellCurrency: ''Whole'' [[LivingCurrency live]] clams are used as money throughout the game. This is actually a {{pun}} since "clam" was a slang for "money" when the strip was created.
35	* CloudCuckooLander: Several characters veer into this trope. B.C., Clumsy Carp and Wiley appear to be the biggest offenders.
36	* DeadpanSnarker: Curls. B.C. actually introduces him to the rest of the group as "master of sarcastic wit."
37	-->'''Clumsy Carp:''' Let's hear you say something funny.\
38	'''Curls:''' I'm pleased to meet you.
39	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The [[http://johnhartstudios.com/bc/2013/09/25/ strip for September 25th 2013]] has a meeting of the Redundancy Department with Peter as the Speaker.
40	-->'''Peter''': First off, roll call will be followed by a brief head count, after which we can quickly take attendance. But first, let's just see who's here today.
41	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Fat Broad and the Cute Chick were only ever referred to by those descriptors until August 29, 2019, when they respectively became Jane and Grace.
42	* {{Expy}}: In the early 60's Hart created a series of ads for Dr. Pepper called "Harmon the Caveman" featuring a whole new cast of caveman, still drawn in his usual style but SuperDeformed.
43	* FunnyAnimalAnatomy: The anteaters in the comic not only have aardvark-like ears but ''two'' mouths: one at the tip of the snout (the correct location) and another at the base.
44	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Ida, the (usually-unseen) Queen Ant, apparently rules the colony with an iron fist.
45	* GreenAesop: Hart actually did a bit of proselytizing ''before'' being born again, it just took a different form.
46	* HatesBaths: Wiley, to the point that he fears water in general. One strip had him tentatively poke the tip of his peg-leg in water, and scream in terror.
47	* HermitGuru: The bearded gent who sits atop the mountain and dispenses wisdom to B.C.
48	* JumpingTheShark: InUniverse: one strip has a character offer Thor condolences for "Jumping a shark".
49	* TheKlutz: Clumsy Carp once attempted to raise his confidence by insisting people stop calling him that. After he falls flat on his face ''while standing still'', he settles on the name "Clumsy Pike".
50	* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy
51	* MidairMotionShot: All the wheels.
52	* NerdGlasses: Clumsy Carp has them. Given the fact that glasses were invented in the 13th century A.D., this is another ingredient in the AnachronismStew.
53	* PermaStubble: While most of the cavemen have five o'clock shadows, Wiley's beard is more unkempt and hairier than the others, and Grog is hairy all over.
54	* PokemonSpeak:
55	** Grog can only say his name; {{subverted\|Trope}} in the later years when his vocabulary evolved and he began to utter the occasional laconic one-liner every now and then.
56	** Gronk before he was SuddenlySpeaking.
57	* PovertyFood: In the AnimatedAdaptation "The First Thanksgiving'' (1973), after failing to catch a turkey for dinner, the cavemen had to make do with rock soup. Fat Broad ladled moist rocks onto their plates. It made for one grim meal.
58	* PrimitiveClubs: The caveman characters' main weapon is the stone club, and when they try other weapons such as spears or the bow-and-arrow, it usually causes more harm to the user than to the target. The Fat Broad/Jane routinely wields a stone club to pound snakes into mush.
59	* PrintLongRunners: At six decades and counting, ''B.C.'' definitely qualifies.
60	* RaptorAttack: Raptors are featured in more recent strips, trying to eat the other characters.
61	%%* RemovableShell: John has one.
62	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The reason the poor snake keeps getting beat up by the Fat Broad.
63	* RunningGag:
64	** Fat Broad/Jane's clubbing snakes.
65	** The apteryx' introduction of itself as "a wingless bird with hairy feathers".
66	** CLAMS GOT RUNNING GAGS!
67	--->'''Clam''': Now I have to kill him...
68	** In some Sunday strips, Peter will write a message on a tablet and send it out into the ocean, where he will wait for the reply on a tablet which will drift back to him at the next day's sunrise containing the punchline response to his inquiry.
69	* SeadogPegLeg: Wiley has never sailed the seas, but he does have a peg leg. Wiley functions as poet / bartender / coach among his cave-dwelling peers.
70	* StoutStrength: Fat Broad/Jane, as mentioned above. Grog can be considered to be as well; one of his earliest appearances has him picking up a very large tree and moving it out of his way.
71	* SuddenlySpeaking: The Dinosaur (aka Gronk) in later strips. Also Grog in one commercial and a strip from January 24, 1977.
72	* TalkingAnimal: All of the animals except for Wolf.
73	* ThatCloudLooksLike: ''B.C.'' did a few, such as "all the ills suffered by mankind" (a mushroom cloud) and "the dust cloud raised by a herd of stampeding mammoths" (cue stomping as it turns out it is, indeed, the dust cloud raised by a herd of stampeding mammoths).
74	* ThoseTwoGuys: John the Tortoise and Dookie Bird. It has also been known to veer into InterspeciesRomance.
75	* WalkThisWay: In one book, a character asks for a book on levitation. Cue the bookstore owner walking in mid-air while saying this trope…
76	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: John is scared of spiders, to the point of paranoia.
77	* WriterOnBoard
78	* WrittenRoar: "GRONK!"
79	* WrittenSoundEffect: "ZOT!"

Context ComicStrip / BC