Today in Comics History, August 20, 1988: This is getting more confusing than that issue where Reed Richards and Dr. Doom jumped in time around the comic book

from Hot Valley Days and Cocaine Nights #1 and 3 (Antarctic, December 2020-February 2021), script by Matthew Spradlin, pencils and inks by Farid Karami, colors by Andrew Crossley

Today in Comics History, August 20, 1965: The Beatles play Comiskey Park and make Carol Tyler's world

from Fab 4 Mania: A Beatles Obsession and the Concert of a Lifetime (Fantagraphics, June 2018), script, art, and lettering by Carol Tyler

Today in Comics History, August 20: Happy birthday, Dana Moreshead!

Born on this day: Dana Moreshead, who's worked in advertising and management at Marvel, Stan Lee Media, and Disney Parks, and has also written and colored for Marvel (Excalibur, Marvel Comics Presents, Deadpool, Rogue, X-Factor, etc.)!


from Marvel Age #108 (January 1992)
Happy birthday, Dana!

Today in Comics History, August 20: Happy birthday, George Roussos!

Happy birthday to the man born today in 1915: comics colorist (and penciller, and inker, and letterer!) George Roussos (aka George Bell)!. He's worked on so so many comics I can't list them all here, but (ahem) he inked early issues of (ahem) JACK KIRBY'S FANTASTIC FOUR.


from Marvel Age #32, 56, 92 and 104 (Marvel, November 1985, November 1987, September 1990, and September 1991); text by Jim Salicrup (#32), Mike Carlin (#56) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#92 and 104); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Andy Yanchus (#32), Paul Becton (#56) and Renee Witterstaetter (#104)

Today in Comics History, August 20: Happy birthday, KRS-One!

Born on this day: Lawrence "Kris" Parker, better known to y'all as rapper, actor, and producer KRS-One (Return of the Boom Bap, The Sneak Attack, Kristyles, and much more)!


from Hip-Hop Family Tree Two-in-One (FCBD 2014) one-shot (Fantagraphics, May 2014); script, pencils, inks, colors, and letters by Ed Piskor

Today in Comics History, August 20, 1972: Forget it, Jake, it's Cthulhutown

from "This Archaic Breeding Ground..." in Scream (1973 series) #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by José Gual

Today in Comics History, August 20, 1998: Virtual workspaces become even more cosmic

from Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority #4 (WildStorm, November 2000), script by Mark Millar, pencils by John McCrea, inks by James Hodgkins, colors by Ian Hannin, letters by Bill O'Neil

Today in Comics History, August 20, 2014: At this point accept it: she's just too depressed to get up, guys

from The Wicked + the Divine #20 (Image, June 2016), script by Kieron Gillen, pencils and inks by Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, flattens by Dee Cunniffe, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, August 20: Happy birthday, Element Lad!

Born on this day sometime in the thirtieth century: Jann Arrah, who we know as Element Lad! You know, the giant Legionnaire with the big ears and the long trunk and...sorry, I've made another one of my silly mistakes. That's Elephant Lad.


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

Today in Comics History, August 19: At last, it's "Batman's Mysteries on the Moon!"

from Young Justice (2011 series) #11 (February 2012), script by Greg Weisman, pencils by Christopher Jones, inks by Dan Davis, colors by Zac Atkinson, letters by Dezi Sienty

Today in Comics History, August 19: With Great Batman Power Comes Great Batman Responsibility

from Young Justice (2011 series) #11 (February 2012), script by Greg Weisman, pencils by Christopher Jones, inks by Dan Davis, colors by Zac Atkinson, letters by Dezi Sienty

Today in Comics History, August 19, 7:30 PM: Aw geez, Oswald Cobblepot's running for mayor again

from "This Archaic Breeding Ground..." in Scream (1973 series) #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by José Gual

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1972, 4:30 PM: Actually, the directions were to one of Lovecraft's favorite pubs and he didn't want it getting overrun by hipsters

from "This Archaic Breeding Ground..." in Scream (1973 series) #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by José Gual

Today in Comics History, August 19: Happy birthday, Chuck Patton!

Born on this day: comics artist and animator Chuck Patton (Justice League of America, Green Arrow, Action Comics Weekly (Nightwing), The Brave and the Bold, Detective Comics, more)! He co-created Vibe, Gypsy, and Jinx! He's (self) pictured here with DC writer Len Wein.



from DC Challenge #2 (DC, December 1985), co-plot and script by Len Wein; co--lot and pencils by Chuck Patton, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
A very happy birthday to you, Chuck! Help yourself to a piece of cake! Not that big one; that's mine.

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1945: He then returned to his life as a candidate

from General Douglas MacArthur one-shot (Fox, 1951), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1962: Ringo claims hazard pay

from The Beatles in Comics! (NBM, November 2018); script by Romuald Gleyse; translation by Joe Johnson; art by Ben Lebégue; letters by Ortho

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1949: Severed Poultry from Peking Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Jim Lad

from Top 10: The Forty-Niners (America's Best Comics, October 2005), text by Alan Moore

Today in Comics History, August 19, 2009: J. Jonah Jameson isn't really enjoying the taste of that boot leather

from Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3 (Marvel, October 2009), pencils by Chris Bachalo and Rob DiSalvo

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1812: This is really instructional, because the only thing I knew about him was that he was played by Raymond Burr

"Know Your Country: The Story of Old Ironsides" in Real Fact Comics #18 (DC, January 1949), illustration by Raymond Perry (?)

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1692: Spider-Man Arrives Too Late to Save a Hanging Witch

from Marvel Team-Up (1972 series) #44 (April 1976), script by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Sal Buscema, figure inks by Mike Esposito, background inks by Dave Hunt, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Karen Mantlo

Today in Comics History, August 19, 1972, 8:30 AM: "I really must stop eating toasted sandwiches before bed made with Lovecraft Brand Evil Cheese Slices."

from "This Archaic Breeding Ground..." in Scream (1973 series) #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by José Gual

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Skip Dietz!

Celebrating a birthday today: Skip Dietz, who's written stories for Marvel Comics Presents, Inhumans, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and Infinity War! Also, Impossible Man and Rick Jones here tell us he was a "coordinator" at Marvel!


from Marvel Age #104 (Marvel, September 1991), text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Renee Witterstaetter
Happy birthday, Skip!

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Robert Redford!

Born on this day: actor, director, and whatta dreamboat Robert Redford! He was on the cover of a Marvel comic book issue #1!


from ALF #1 (Marvel, March 1988), photograph plus pencils by Dave Manak, inks by Marie Severin
But it's true: the real Bob hasn't appeared in many comic books, but here's a genuine modeling job that paid off big for him in the comics world!


cover of Young Love (1949 series) v. 4 #1 [#31] (Prize, March 1952), photographer uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy Unity Day!

Hope you're havin' a fine Unity Day! What's Unity Day? Um....

from Superman (2018 series) #14 (DC, October 2019), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils by Ivan Reis, inks by Joe Prado and Oclair Albert, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Wes Abbott
(Click picture to Legion-size)

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Wing!

Born today before WWII: The Crimson Avenger's chauffeur and sidekick, and member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Wing!


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

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1972: Ironically, then he ran right into the Crawling Eye

from "This Archaic Breeding Ground..." in Scream (1973 series) #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by José Gual

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Robert Venditti!

Born on this day: comics writer Robert Venditti, co-creator of Damage II (Ethan "Elvis" Avery) and The Surrogates, scripter on Hawkman, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan and the GLC, Justice League, Superman '78, Demon Knights, Freedom Fighters, Book of Death, Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, X-O Manowar, and many more books!


from DC Comics cover-dated January 2018
Happy birthday, Robert!

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Virginia Dare!

Born on this day in 1587 (so you know she's more mature than you): Virginia Dare, the first English child born in a New World English colony. And not the last, but you know how that went.


from Batman/Spawn: War Devil one-shot (DC/Image, May 1994); script by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant; pencils, inks, and colors by Klaus Janson; computer colors by Steve Buccellato; letters by Todd Klein
And now, a much less creepy depiction of that event!:


from "The Story of Jamestown, Virginia" in Flash Comics (1940 series) #63 (DC/All-American, March 1945), script by M. C. Gaines and W. W. D. Sones, pencils and inks by Allen Simon

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1982: THIS MAN! Has just won a fabulous two-week vacation in Iran, all expenses paid by the CIA!

from Psi-Force #21 (Marvel/New Universe, July 1988), script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Mike Witherby, colors by Nelson Yomtov, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History: Happy birthday, Criswell!

Born on this day in 1907, Jeron Criswell King, better known to B-movie fans as The Amazing Criswell! Wikipedia: "an American psychic known for wildly inaccurate predictions." You may remember him from the opening sequence of Plan 9 from Outer Space, written and directed by America's only cinematographical artiste, Ed Wood!


from "Ed Wood Jr." in The Big Book of Weirdos (DC/Paradox, April 1995), script by Carl Posey, pencils and inks by Mitch O'Connell, letters by Rod Ollerenshaw
Criswell died in 1982. Ya think he predicted that?


from "The Edward D. Wood, Jr. Players Trading Cards" in Heavy Metal v.9 #1 (Heavy Metal, April 1985); script, pencils, inks and letters by Drew Friedman
Happy birthday, Criswell, baby! I predict birthday cake tonight!


"Criswell Predicts," opening scene of Plan 9 from Outer Space (Reynolds Pictures, Inc., 1957),
written, directed, edited and produced by Ed Wood

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1948: Looming deadline forces entire comics book panel to be a caption

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

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Barbara Altman!

Born on this day: Barbara Altman, who worked in production and design at Marvel Comics in 1974-1976!


from 1975 Mighty Marvel Convention Program Book 1975 (Marvel, 1975), photograph by Michele Wolfman
Happy birthday, Barbara!

Today in Comics History, August 18, 2014: I don't know about you, but I can certainly sit and wait

from The Wicked + The Divine #20 (Image, June 2016), script by Kieron Gillen, pencils and inks by Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, flattens by Dee Cunniffe, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, August 17: Happy birthday, Rudy York!

Born on this day in 1913, Major League baseball player and manager Rudy York! With one-eighth Cherokee ancestry and less-than-perfect fielding abilities, York prompted sportswriter Wayne Minshew to declare: "He is part Indian and part first baseman."


from "Indian Sluggers" in King Comics #67 (David McKay, November 1941), pencils and inks by Jack Burnley
And he enjoyed the iconic Breakfast of Champions: Wheaties!


Wheaties advertisement from DC Comics cover-dated January 1949
Happy birthday, Rudy!

y