The Other Wizard

In another ironic twist, Johnny Hart's partner Brant Parker died on April 15, 2007. Parker and Hart co-created The Wizard of Id in 1964. Brant's son Jeff Parker took over the Wizard in 1997. A full obituary is here.

Off the top of my head, I believe this leaves Mort Walker as the senior American cartoonist, but I haven't researched this. His official website is here.

Salad Days friend JB sent this link of one cartoonist's tribute to Johnny Hart.

Not too long ago, I read one commentator's observation (no source available) that cartoonists like Hart, Parker and The Greatest Of All Time were worthy of the title of "genius" not because of the complexity of their work, but because of its simplicity -- noting that the simple, unadorned strip required much more creativity than the over-elaborate cartoons that populate the funny papers today. An interest point. And of course, in all three cases, you have the simple matter of longevity. As The Greatest Of All Time said at the end of his career, "We have beaten every one of them."