Today in Comics History, September 16: Happy birthday, Lauren Bacall!

Born on this day in 1924: film and stage actor Lauren Bacall, Queen of my Heart (Golden Age Division). To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, The Big Sleep, How to Marry a Millionaire...I've taped 'em all off TCM!


from Girl in Dior graphic novel (April 2015); script, pencils and ink by Annie Goetzinger; translation by Joe Johnson; letters by Ortho



Of course she was also a comic book star — how could the medium deny her entrance? These comic covers are early modeling shots of Bacall she made before she began her movie career!


covers of (left) Glamorous Romances #55 (Ace, November 1951);
(right) Revealing Romances #5 (Ace, May 1950
Bacall is featured here (va-va-va-voom!) as a pin-up in one of Harvey's "Cartoons, Gags, and Girls" collections: strong enpugh for a woman, but made for men who had 15¢ in their pockets.


from Hello Buddies v.4 #6 (Harvey, November 15, 1945)
Of course, she (and Bogie) also encountered the JSA on the DC Universe's Earth-2:


from "Evil Star Over Hollywood" in All-Star Comics #44 (DC/National Comics, December 1948), script by John Broome, pencils by Irwin Hasen, inks by Bob Oksner
Karen Drew, one of many Bruce Wayne-galfriends, was visually inspired by Laurel Bacall, in these strips from the '40s syndicated comic.





from Batman: The Dailies v. 2 (Dark Horse, December 1990), reprinting the Batman and Robin comic strip, script by Jack Schiff, pencils by Jack Burley, inking and Craftint embellishment by Charles Paris, letters by Ira Schnapp
By '47 she had a snazzy movie star bio in comics form.




from "The Look" in Sparkling Stars #24 (Holyoke, June 1947), pencils and inks by R. L. Golden
This panel from the story "portrays" how Bacall developed her trademark sultry, low tones at the coaching of Howard Hawks...


...altho' this comics spot piece claims it was his wife.


from "[Lauren Bacall]" in Movie Love #22 (Eastern Color, August 1953), pencils and inks by Frank Fogarty
This led to the abuse of her vocal cords that is now termed "Bogart–Bacall syndrome" (BBS), named after her and her husband.
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In the forties, who'd best draw dangerous women you'd fall in love with even tho' you'd end up with a knife in the back? Will Eisner, that's who.


cover of The Spirit (1944 series) #22 (Quality, August 1950), pencils and inks by Will Eisner
The Spirit comic debuted "Skinny Bones" (a parody of Bacall's nickname "Slim" in To Have and Have Not) as a glamour girl caught in the net of crime...


from "Pool's Toadstool Facial Cream" in The Spirit Section (Register and Tribune Syndicate, June 9, 1946), script, inks, and colors by Will Eisner, pencils by John Spranger, additional inks and colors by Bob Palmer, letters by Martin DeMuth
...(complete with a spoof of Edward D. Robinson and Sam from Casablanca, but singing the strip's unofficial theme song "Ev'ry Little Bug.")






from "Dulcet Tone" in The Spirit Section (Register and Tribune Syndicate, July 7, 1946), script, inks, and colors by Will Eisner, pencils by John Spranger, additional inks and colors by Bob Palmer, letters by Martin DeMuth


from "The Postage Stamp" in The Spirit Section (Register and Tribune Syndicate, July 14, 1946), script, inks, and colors by Will Eisner, pencils by John Spranger, additional inks and colors by Bob Palmer, letters by Martin DeMuth
Lauren Bacall co-starred in John Wayne's 1976 Western The Shootist, so of course there was a MAD magazine spoof!




from "The Shootiest" in MAD #190 (April 1977), script by Dick DeBartolo, pencils and inks by Mort Drucker
More (sorta) recently, Brian Bendis gave the femme fatale character in his crime noir series both Bacall's name and visual appearance:





from AKA Goldfish (Caliber, 1994); script, pencils, and inks by Brian Michael Bendis; letters by Rick Conrad
This Batman story is a nod to Bacall and Walter Brennan's dialogue in To Have and Have Not:


from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #2 ["Choices"] (DC, December 1993), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils and inks by Tim Sale, colors by Greg Wright, letters by Todd Klein
(Another scene in the comic, though it doesn't involve Bacall, references the boat in Bogart's The Maltese Falcon. Somebody's a Bogie fan!)


We love and salute you, Lauren "Betty" Bacall, and we hope you're up there on the deck of a boat, sipping cocktails with Bogie and watching the sun set over the ocean. Happy birthday!


from "L'il Lezz" in Schizo #3 (Fantagraphics, March 1998), by Ivan Brunetti