There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 25: Is this loss

from Batman/Superman (2019 series) #1 (October 2019), script by Joshua Williamson, pencils and inks by David Marquez, colors by Alejandro Sánchez, letters by John J. Hill
(Click top picture to aAlley-size)

Today in Comics History, June 25, 2035: Capitalism wins again

from "The Man Who Owned the World" in Chamber of Darkness (1969 series) #4 (Marvel, April 1970); plot, pencils, and inks by Tom Sutton; script by Denny O'Neil; letters by Jean Simek
Hey, that's writer/artist Tom Sutton in the lower left-hand corner!

Here, I edited the panel to make it as up-to-date as today's headlines — Today in Comics History Headlines, that is!

Today in Comics History, June 25, 1954: The Creation of SPAAAAAAACE FOOOOOORCE!

"NRL Rockets" from Space War #6 (Charlton, August 1960), creators unidentified and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 25, 1976: So that's how you wanna end your comic, huh? Well, the heck with you.

from Hot Valley Days and Cocaine Nights #3 (Antarctic, February 2021), script by Matthew Spradlin, pencils and inks by Farid Karami, colors by Andrew Crossley

Today in Comics History, June 25: No One's Going to the Prom with You, Peter Parker

from Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #7 (Marvel, July 1999), script by Joe Kelly, pencils by Bart Sears and Andy Smith, inks by Mark Pennington, colors by Joe Rosas and Mark Bernardo, letters by Benchmark Productions

Today in Comics History, June 25: Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics calls the Black Panther; T'Challa rejects call because caller was pretending to be an Asian man

from Marvel Premiere (1972 series) #53 [Black Panther] (Marvel, April 1980), script by Ed Hannigan, pencils by Jerry Bingham, inks by Al Gordon, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Gaspar Saladino

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 24: It was Joe all along

from Detective Comics #578 (September 1987), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils and inks by Todd McFarlane, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Todd Klein

The Adventures of Bully: How to deal with these troubling times

I feel kinda helpless. But I did do this today.

Today in Comics History, June 24: Happy birthday, Ryan Stegman!

Today! Join in the birthday celebration for comics writer and artist Ryan Stegman (She-Hulks, X-23, Superior Spider-Man, Inhuman, Uncanny Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, King in Black and more)!

Sadly Ryan was born too late to attend the Superman/Muhammad Ali prize fight like nearly everybody else in comic books, but here's the next best thing: can you spot Ryan...at a comic book convention! Bonus points for all the other creators you can find! Hint: most of 'em have nameplates!

from Faith (2016 series) #3 (Valiant, September 2016), script by Jody Houser, pencils and inks by Pere Pérez, colors by Andrew Dalhouse, letters by Dave Sharpe
(Click top picture to Oh no, I'm not gonna say "Faith" here-size)
Happy birthday, Ryan!

Today in Comics History, June 24, 1999: Don't you dare spill that Super-Cola on my collectibles

back cover of Superman, Inc. one-shot (DC, December 1999), pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Kevin Nowlan, colors by Dave Stewart, cover design by Steve Vance

Today in Comics History, June 24: Happy birthday, Peter Milligan!

Celebratin' a birthday today is comics/TV/movie writer Peter Milligan: scripter of 2000 AD, Shade the Changing Man, X-Force/X-Statix/X-Cellent, Detective Comics, 5 Ronin, Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel, Hellblazer, Animal Man, Red Lanterns, Tank Girl and others; co-creator of Azrael, Doop, X-Force, etc.


from DC/Vertigo Comics cover-dated (left) March 2009 and (right) September 2009

Today in Comics History, June 24, 1972: Today, nothing was said

from Back to the Future (2015 series) #25 (IDW, April 2017), plot by John Barber and Bob Gale, script by John Barber, pencils by Marcello Ferreira and Athila Fabbio, inks by Maria Keane, colors by Jose Luis Rio, letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, June 24: Happy birthday, Mike Wieringo!

Born today in 1963: much-loved late comics artist Mike Wieringo: artist on Adventures of Superman, The Flash, Fantastic Four, Sensational Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Spider-Boy, Tellos, (his own co-cretion with Todd Dezago), and more. Photographs of Ringo (on the right) with Dezago ("me") and Thierry Mornet at the Angoulême International Comics Festival 1999:



from Tellos #7 (Image, May 2000)

Today in Comics History, June 24, 1950: Then...Korea!

from "A Baby!" in Frontline Combat #10 (EC, January 1953), script by Harvey Kurtzman, pencils and inks by Wally Wood, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, June 24: Happy birthday, Doreen Frederick!

Born on this day: 1980s Marvel production manager's assistant Doreen Frederick!


from Marvel Age 54 (Marvel, September 1987); text by Mike Carlin, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme. colors by Paul Becton
Here's a li'l cartoon Doreen plus an explanation of what everybody does in the Marvel production department!


from Marvel Age #46 (Marvel, January 1987)
So, a very happy birthday to you, Doreen!

(And hey, Marvel? Please stop telling women they should smile, Marvel.)


from Marvel/New Universe Comics cover-dated August 1987

Today in Comics History, June 24, 1972: Zemeckis preserves his PG rating

from Back to the Future (2015 series) #24 (IDW, October 2017), script by John Barber, pencils by Marcelo Ferreira and Athila Fabbio, inks by Maria Keane, colors by Jose Luis Rio, letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, June 24: Happy birthday, Denis Rodier!

Born on this day: comics artist Denis Rodier! You know him from a lotta Superman books (Action Comics, Superman, Superman Forever, Superman: The Wedding Album, Adventures of Superman, Superman: The Man of Tomorrow, DC One Million, and more), which is why he got invited to Clark and Lois's wedding! Can you find him?

from Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot (DC, December 1996), pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Jerry Ordway, colors by Glenn Whitmore, letters by Bill Oakley
Click top picture to honeymoon-size
Happy birthday, Denis!

Today in Comics History, June 24: Maybe you shoulda said something beforehand, Commissioner Gordon

from "The Spectral Stones" in Ghosts #68 (DC, September 1978), pencils and inks by Ruben Yandoc, letters by Esphid Mahilum
This post was suggested by faithful reader and frequent commenter Blam, who's provided a lot of date references in comics that I'll spotlight throughout 2023 in this series. Thanks, Blam!

Today in Comics History, June 24, 1972: It's okay to yell in a library if you're resolving a plot point from a Spielberg movie

from Back to the Future (2015 series) #19 (IDW, April 2017), script by John Barber, pencils by Marcello Ferreira, inks by Maria Keane and Athila Fabbio, colors by Jose Luis Rio, letters by Shawn Lee

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 23: Looks like that jelly donut got away from you, Martha

from Batman: Death and the Maidens #4 (DC, January 2004), script by Greg Rucka, pencils and inks by Klaus Janson, colors by Steve Buccellato, letters by Clem Robins

Today in Comics History, June 23: First assertion that the bird is, in fact, the word

from "Spread Your Broken Wings and Learn to Fly" in Action Comics Weekly #603 (DC, June 7, 1988), script by Martin Pasko, pencils and inks by Dan Spiegle, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Carrie Spiegle

Today in Comics History, June 23: Sadie Hawkins invents Patent Herbal Remedies

Tomorrow is St. John's Day, so...


from "Love Charms!" in Wonder Woman (1942 series) #85 (DC/National, October 1956), script by Julius Schwartz, pencils by Morris Waldinger, inks by Tommy Nicolosi, letters by Milt Snapinn

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1593: Invention of "Are we there yet?'

from Sandman #19 (DC, September 1990), script by Neil Gaiman, pencils and inks by Charles Vess, colors by Steve Oliff, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1999: Stan Lee clearly has blackmail material on J. Jonah Jameson

from Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1999 series) #8 (Marvel, August 1999)

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1804: Kermit's ancestors murdered

from Manifest Destiny #12 (Image, December 2014), script by Chris Dingess, pencils and inks by Matthew Roberts, colors by Owen Gieni, letters by Pat Brosseau

Today in Comics History, June 23: Outside, in the distance / A wildcat did growl / A rider was approaching / The wind began to howl

Last night, we reminded you that today is


from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1954: Baseball artist accurately draws baseball diamond

from The Amazing Willie Mays one-shot (Eastern Color, September 1954), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1977: Well, of course they held him; he's really tiny

from Freedom Fighters (1976 series) #10 (DC, September 1977), script by Bob Rozakis, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Jack Abel, letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1972: Doc Brown forgets to invent LoJack

from Back to the Future (2015 series) #21 (IDW, July 2017), story by John Barber and Bob Gale, script by John Barber, pencils by Marcelo Ferreira, inks by Marie Keane, colors by Jose Luis Rio, letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, June 23, 1949: The five greatest National League hitters are transformed into baseballs by The Spectre

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

Today in Comics History, June 23: Alfred is too polite to mention Dick's mullet and baggy pants

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published May 11, 2013.



from Nightwing (1995 series) #1 (DC, September 1995), script by Dennis O'Neil, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Mike Sellers, colors by Cathi Bertrand, letters by John Costanza
What's wrong with this panel? Well, fashion sense aside: note that the poster says "May" and the dialogue says "June" — so I'm going to assume the art is an error and the script is definitive, so I'm setting this "Today in Comics History" as June 23. 'S'alright? S'alright.

On the plus side (sorry, Dick!), this sets the date of John and Mary Grayson's death as June 27. June 27th is the day after Bruce Wayne's parents' death, so that tightens the mourning period in Wayne Manor down to a convenient two days. I hope Bruce an' Dick take real good care of each others on those dates.

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 22: Memory, all alone in the moonlight

from "Last Laugh" in DC House of Horror #1 (December 2017), plot by Keith Giffen, script by Nick Cutter, pencils and inks by Rags Morales, colors by Lovern Kindzierski, letters by Wes Abbott