Today in Comics History, July 10: Happy birthday, Arthur Ashe!

Born on this day in 1943: tennis great Arthur Ashe, the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only Black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open, inductee into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and activist and civil rights advocate.

from The Other History of the DC Universe #2 (DC, March 2021), script by John Ridley, layouts by Giuseppe Camuncoli, finishes by Andrea Cucchi, colors by José Villarrubia, letters by Steve Wands
(Click picture to champion-size)
After Ashe publicly acknowledged that he had contracted HIV, he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, and wrote the groundbreaking three-volume sports history A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete. He passed away in 1993 from AIDS-related pneumonia.


from The Other History of the DC Universe #4 (DC, July 2021), script by John Ridley, layouts by Giuseppe Camuncoli, finishes by Andrea Cucchi, colors by José Villarrubia, letters by Steve Wands
Happy birthday, Arthur Ashe. Thinking of you today.


cover of Sports Legends Comics #3 (Revolutionary, 1992), pencils and inks (and colors?) by Carl Ferguson