Today in Comics History, February 23: Hallelujah! It's George Frideric Handel's birthday!

Born on this day in 1685, so maybe only your grand-parents might remember him: George Frideric Handel, musical composer of classics like The Messiah, Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, and Zadok the Priest. A lot of others, too, but that's as far as I read into the Wikipedia article. Because I have comic books to fill me in about all I need to know for him. Or, as I like to put it: "all I can Handel." (giggle snort)

Here's Handel, his famous The Messiah, his big meanie dad, his similarity to Batman when he's deep in work, and his nightshirt, which was obviously washed in Tide, because it's whiter than white!


from "The Songs of Christmas" in Four Color #1062 [Walt Scott's Christmas Stories] (Dell, December 1959); script, pencils, and inks by Walt Scott




Handel was determined to show his music-hatin' papa that he could grow up and be what he wanted to be. And it was true: he became a worthless beggar.


from "The Story of Georg Friedrich Handel: Composer of The Messiah" in Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact v.25 #11/475 (George A. Pflaum, February 1970), script by Hazel Howard, pencils and inks by Lloyd Ostendorf
One evening after a night at the opera*, Handel saw his parents gunned down right before his eyes in a dark alley, and vowed to become a masked avenger of the opera.

*Neither the Marx Brothers movie or the Queen album, so boring.


HOLY COW I WAS JUST KIDDING ABOUT THE MASK


No theater would host his music, so Handel rented a bunch of boats and blasted his tunes randomly out all across London. Observed by the young John Fogerty, this beat fleet inspired him to pen the classic "Rollin' on the River" and, for some strange reason, "Centerfield."


Okay, I admit it: everything from this particular comic has been leading up to this page, which, on my scan of Treasure Chest #475, is humorously notated by a previous and contrarian owner. I salute you in awe, young annotator, for giving us the phrases "Unbravo!" and "It will not live forever!"


Treasure Chest was a comic developed, printed, and distributed by the Roman Catholic Church and ran through 1972 (which meant that as a wee veal, I got it at Catholic School). What with all that hallelujahin' goin' on, it's probably no surprise that this series also featured a whimsical little tale of the birth of The Messiah. Did you know he wrote his magnificent piece for a benefit concert? I didn't know that! "I can appreciate the work Handel's put into this," commented John Cougar Mellencamp, "But I don't know if it was the right piece for Farm Aid '87."


from "Origin of Oratorio and Opera, the Musical Twins" in Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact v.4 #1/47 (George A. Pflaum, September 1948), script by Silvio A. Bendini
Everybody's doin' a brand new dance now
(Come on baby do the Messiah)
I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now
(Come on baby do the Messiah)
My little baby sister can do it with ease
It's easier than learning your A-B-Cs
So come on, come on, do the Messiah with me


So happy birthday to you, Notorious GFH, for sticking to your dream and becoming the popular composer that everyone loves, even if they don't know who Zadok was!


"Big Dreams" from Hark! A Vagrant (Drawn + Quarterly, September 2011), by Kate Beaton