Today in Comics History, May 18, 1947: Jackie Robinson hits pencils

from Jackie Robinson #1 (Fawcett, Summer 1949), script by Charles Dexter, pencils by Clem Weisbecker, inks by John Jordan

Today in Comics History, May 18, 1940: This is the worst episode of The Fred Allen Show ever

from "Underground Girl!" in Famous Stars #3 (Ziff-Davis, 1950), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History ,May 17: Happy birthday, George Kashdan!

Born on this day in 1928: comics/animation writer/editor (Action Comics, Adventure Comics, The Unexpected, G.I. Combat, Weird War Tales, Rip Hunter: Time Master, The Twilight Zone, Grimm's Ghost Stories, Flash Gordon, Star Trek comics, and The Mighty Hercules and The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure cartoons, among others): George Kashdan! He co-created Tommy Tomorrow!


from "The Man Who Lost His Spirit" in Ghosts #95 (DC, December 1980), script by George Kashdan, pencils and inks by Tor Infante, colors by Jerry Serpe
I'm not going to include the rather mean-spirited appearance of George in Inferior Five #6. (Read more about it on Tom Breevoort's blog if you'd like!)

Let's just leave with this panel from the story above.


Happy birthday, George!

Today in Comics History, May 17: Happy birthday, Steve Geiger!

Born on this day: 1990s Marvel Art Director and comics artist Steve Geiger (The Incredible Hulk, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, Web of Spider-Man, Doctor Solar, Samuree, Scion, and more) and founder of the entertainment development company Evil Geiger Empire!


from Marvel Age #89 and 101 (Marvel, June 1990 and June 1991); text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter; pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Renee Witterstaetter
You know the drill: Find Steve Geiger in the Marvel Bullpen!

from Marvel Age #120 (Marvel, January 1993), art by Rick Parker
(Click top picture to Bullpen-size)
Happy birthday, Steve!


from Marvel Age #112 (Marvel, May 1992)

Today in Comics History, May 17: This should probably be on August 17, but hey, go with the date in the panel

from Legends of the Dark Knight (2021 series) #5 (DC, November 2021), script by Brandon Thomas, pencils and inks by Giannis Milonogiannis, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Deron Bennett

Today in Comics History, May 17, 1949: CDC warns against licking small bears

from Jackie Robinson #1 (Fawcett, Summer 1949), script by Charles Dexter, pencils by Clem Weisbecker, inks by John Jordan

Today in Comics History, May 16: Happy birthday to Pierce Brosnan, cinema's only James Bond!

cover of James Bond 007: Goldeneye #1 (Topps, January 1996), painted art by Brian Stelfreeze

Today in Comics History, May 16: Happy birthday, Jenette Kahn!

Born on this day: Jenette Kahn, former publisher, president, and editor-in-chief of DC Comics, and visible editorial face of the company for much of the '80s and '90s.


cover of Savvy (January 1984)

Today in Comics History, May 16: Happy birthday, Janet Jackson!*

Happy birthday, Janet Jackson!


from Marvel Age #50 and 87 and 98 (Marvel, May 1987 and April 1990), text by Mike Carlin (#50), and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#87); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Gregory Wright (#87)
*No, not that one! The singer/songwriter/dancer. She has never colored a comic book in her life.


cover of Star Jam Comics #2 (Revolutionary, 1992), artist unknown
Happy birthday, Miss Jackson! I'm not nasty, but I'm not takin' any chances.



from "Nasty" in Step Aside, Pops (Drawn + Quarterly, September 2015), by Kate Beaton

Today in Comics History, May 16, 1862: After several successful decades, comics just shrug and give up

from "The War Between the States" in Picture Stories from American History #4 (EC, Summer 1947), script by Jerry Coleman, pencils and inks by Allen Simon (apparently)

Today in Comics History, May 16, 1999: So, Hervé Villechaize, Jason Wyngarde, the First Doctor, and Mrs. White from Clue are trapped in an elevator...

from The Invisibles (1999 series) #8 (DC/Vertigo, August 1999), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Sean Phililips, inks by Jay Stephens, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, May 16, 1999: Maybe not the best subject line to send using your work email, King Mob

from The Invisibles (1999 series) #8 (DC/Vertigo, August 1999), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Sean Phililips, inks by Jay Stephens, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, May 16, 1946: Geez, we're gonna start needing a slide rule to keep track of these comics

from Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #5 (IDW, May 2017), co-plot and script by Bob Gale, co-plot by Derek Fridolfs, pencils by Alan Robinson, inks by Alan Robinson and Jaime Castro, colors by Maria Santaolalla, letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, May 15: Happy birthday, Nicholas Hammond!

A very spidey birthday to Nicholas Hammond, who was television's second live-action Spider-Man (after The Electric Company)! He played Peter Parker (and shh, don't tell Jonah) in 13 episodes of CBS's The Amazing Spider-Man TV series from 1977-1979.


from "Aunt May's Photo Album" in Marvel Treasury Edition #18 [The Astonishing Spider-Man] (Marvel, 1978), text by Jim Salicrup (?), letters by Jim Novak (?)
Well, aside from that, Mr. Lee, how did you enjoy the show?


from Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (Simon & Schuster, January 2019), script by Peter David and Stan Lee, art by Colleen Doran
Over in the UK, fans got to see the pilot on the big screen! Because the BBC wasn't "hip" enough to run the series!

from Spider-Man Summer Special 1979 (Marvel UK, Summer 1979), text by Sam Deli
(Click top picture to tarantula-size)
Happy birthday, Nicholas Hammond!

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1942: Insert Indiana Jones theme here

from Young All-Stars #11 (DC, April 1988), script by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas, pencils by Michael Bair, inks by Malcolm Jones III and Grant Miehm, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Agustin Mas

Today in Comics History, May 15: Venom patiently waits for several hours for Comic-Con to open

from "Planet of the Symbiotes, Chapter Two: Lurkers!" in Spider-Man Super Special #1 (one-shot) (Marvel, July 1995), script by David Michelinie, pencils by Joe St. Pierre, inks by Greg Adams, colors by Tom Smith, letters by Bill Oakley and NJQ

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1941: Fliers compete for a Distinguished Flying Cross via intense staring contest

from "Snatched from Death" in Real Heroes #3 (Parents Institute Press, March 1942), creators unidentified and unknown

Today in Comics History, May 15: Happy birthday, John Verpoorten!

Born on this day in 1940: John Verpoorten, Marvel's production manager in the 1970s: beloved both in real life and on the comics page as a four-color larger-than-life figure.


from (L) Fantastic Four Annual #7 (Marvel, November 1969),
(middle) 1975 Mighty Marvel Convention Program Book (Marvel, 1975), photograph by Michele Wolfman, and
(right) Foom #15 (Marvel, September 1976)

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1999: The Queen has her swimming pool filled with blueberry Jell-O

from The Invisibles (1999 series) #8 (DC/Vertigo, August 1999), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Sean Phililips, inks by Jay Stephens, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1922: Tippy O'Hara Jr. will not enjoy his morning

from "Marked for Death" in Crime Must Pay the Penalty #19 (Ace, April 1951), pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Louis Zansky (?)

Today in Comics History, May 15, 50 BC: There's no possible way his retirement can go wrong*

from Asterix and the Chieftain’s Daughter (NBM, July 2020), script by Jean-Yves Ferri, art by Didier Conrad, colors by Thierry Mébarki
*Well, not entirely...

Today in Comics History, May 15: Never meet with a guy with the nickname "Nose," especially if you have to write it in quotes

from Amazing Spider-Man #231 (Marvel, August 1982), script by Roger Stern, pencils by John Romita Jr., inks by Jim Mooney, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Joe Rosen

Today in Comics History, May 14: Happy birthday, Thomas Gainsborough!

Hello, art lovers! (Put that down!) Today let's get out our paints and canvas and turpentine (do not drink it!) and daub up a birthday greeting to the man who invented the color blue and the Gainsburger dog food patty, Thomas Gainsborough (born in 1727)! Well, not 'xactly, but that's good enough for me, along with my theory that William of Orange invented orange and Violet Beauregard...well, my theories may be laughed at in the art world, but I say, who will laugh last? The art world, that's who.

No, while Gainsborough may not have invented the color blue, he was a pioneer in the field of Blue Studies, which is why a scholar of blue is generally named a gainsboroloist. Y'see, his contemporary, Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy and inventor of tin foil, believed

...that the masses of light in a picture be always of a warm, mellow colour, yellow, red, or a yellowish white, and that the blue, the grey, or the green colours be kept almost entirely out of these masses.

Luckily (or we might not have gotten Blue Beetle), Gainsborough disagreed, punched Reynolds in the snoot, and painted his most famous work of art, The Blue Boy, which combined several shades of blue and made the color the predominant shade in the work. Of course, Gainsborough is always renowned in the art world for his Mr and Mrs Andrews; Portrait of Mrs. Graham; Mary and Margaret: The Painter's Daughters; William Hallett, The Morning Walk; and Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher, and the ever-classic Girl with Pigs.

But the heck with those, let's look at some comic books!


from "Imagine That" in Rocket Kelly #2 (Fox, Winter 1945), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, May 14: Happy birthday, Cate Blanchett!

Happy birthday, Cate Blanchett, award-winning actress and star of films as diverse as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King!


from "Bored of the Rings: The Feeble Schtick of Ka-Ching!" in MAD #416 (April 2002), script by Desmond Devlin, pencils by Hermann Mejia
Also, she was goddess of death Hela in the good Thor film. Hey, nice Kirby Hat, Cate!

Jack Kirby Hat #4,276

movie variant cover of The Mighty Thor #700 (Marvel, December 2017)
Happy birthday, Cate! Sorry to not focus on your roles in The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Shipping News, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Aviator, Hot Fuzz, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Ocean's 8, or Don't Look Up. Try to star in more movies that have comic book adaptations next year, okay?

Today in Comics History, May 14, 1955: Rabbit Season! Duck Season!...James Keller Season?

from Captain America (2005 series) #11 (Marvel, November 2005), script by Ed Brubaker, pencils and inks by Steve Epting, additional inks by Mike Perkins, colors by Frank D'Armata, letters by Randolph Gentile

Today in Comics History, May 14: If you go down to Times Square today, you're sure of a big surprise

from Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3 (top and middle) and #4 (bottom) (Marvel, October-November 2009); script by Brian Reed; pencils by Rob DiSalvo (#3) and Chris Bachalo (#4); inks by Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Jon Sibal, Mark Irwin, and Walden Wong; colors by Chris Bachalo, Andres Mossa, and Antonio Fabela; letters by Jared K. Fletcher

Today in Comics History, May 14, 1796: Boy injected with cow DNA becomes beloved by all, enjoys cookies

from "The Trailblazer" in M.D. #2 (EC, June 1955), creator uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, Saturday the 14th: She especially dreads Milhouse and Nelson

from The Beauty #12 (Image, February 2017), script by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Harley, pencils and inks by Jeremy Haun, colors by John Rauch, letters by Fonografix

Today in Comics History, May 14, 1777: Captain Skid prays to his God that his letter is not found by idiots

from Four Color #1187 [The Three Stooges] (Dell, June 1961); pencils, inks, and letters by Joe Messerli