Today in Comics History, July 8: Happy birthday, Marty Feldman!

Born on this day in 1934: comedian, comedy writer and actor Marty Feldman from Young Frankenstein, The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, Yellowbeard, At Last the 1948 Show and many more! Including Silent Movie!



from "The Making of a Silent Movie" in Cracked #138 (Major, December 1976), pencils and inks by John Severin

Today in Comics History, July 8, 1776: The Founding Fathers lament the end of their four-day holiday weekend

from The Flash #795 (DC, May 2023); script by Jeremy Adams; pencils by Roger Cruz, George Kambadais, or Fernando Pasarin; inks by Wellington Diaz, George Kambadais, or Oclair Albert; colors by Luis Guerrero or Matt Herms, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, July 8, 1948: Yes, it was an era where the Boston Braves could just afford to throw away players

from Eddie Stanky [Baseball Hero] one-shot (Fawcett, 1951), script by Charles Dexter

Today in Comics History, July 8, 1996: Mad Hettie allows that eating an entire bag of Cool Ranch Doritos was a pretty good idea

from The Dreaming (1996 series) #7 (DC/Vertigo, December 1996), script by Peter Hogan, pencils by Steve Parkhouse. inks by Dick Giordano, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Annie Parkhouse
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, July 8: Happy birthday, Vic Oliver!

Born on this day in 1898: British music hall entertainer, musician, stage and film actor and comedian Vic Oliver (Hi, Gang!, Workers' Playtime, and other BBC radio programmes).


from Radio Fun Annual 1948 (Amalgamated UK, 1948), creators uncredited and unknown
Happy birthday, Vic!

Today in Comics History, July 8-10, 1929: Harold & Kumar Go to Pizza Hut

from "Hop Harrigan's History of American Aviation" in All-American Comics (1939 series) #26 (DC/J.R. Publishing, May 1941); text, penils, and inks by Jon Blummer

Today in Comics History, July 6, 1949: Baseball game must go on even during the Crisis on Infinite Earths

from Don Newcombe one-shot (Fawcett, 1950), script by Charles Dexter

Today in Comics History, July 3: Happy birthday, Franz Kafka!

Born on this day in 1883 in the Kingdom of Bohemia (Face it, you didn't know he came from Bohemia! The only thing I knew about Bohemia was that there was a scandal there), writer and cockroach enthusiast Franz Kafka, who woke up this morning not quite feeling himself. Hey, Franzie, what kinda cake would you like for your birthday?


"Baking with Kafka" from Baking with Kafka (D+Q, October 2017), by Tom Gauld

Today in Comics History, July 3: An artist named Crumb? Don't be ridiculous.

from Scream #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by Felipe de la Rosa

Today in Comics History, July 3: Happy birthday, Dan Slott!

Today's the birthday of Marvel's own Dandy Dan Slott, scripter on The Amazing Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, Tony Stark: Iron Man, Spider-Man/Human Torch, The Thing, The Mighty Avengers, Avengers: The Initiative, Fantastic Four, Iron Man 2020, Great Lakes Avengers, The Ren and Stimpy Show, Batman Adventures, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Looney Tunes and many more! And he's the co-creator of Silk, Mister Negative, Anti-Venom, the Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Island, Jackpot and others! Here he is with Marvel editor Ellie Pyle.


from Superior Spider-Man (2013 series) #14 (Marvel, September 2013)

Today in Comics History, July 3: Cap is really hoping for a Fudgie the Whale cake this year

It's the day before Captain America's birthday! What are you getting him as a gift? Me, I got him a flag.


from Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (2022 series) #1 (Marvel, August 2022), script by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, pencils and inks by Carmen Carnero, colors by Nolan Woodard, letters by Joe Caramagna

Today in Comics History, July 2: Happy birthday, Joe Hallen!

...hope you survive the experience!


from Marvel Age #103 (Marvel, August 1991); text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter; pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Renee Witterstaetter
...Oh.



from "The Death of Joe Hallen: Part One of Five: Bring It On Home to Me" in The 'Nam #54 (Marvel, March 1991), cover pencils and inks by Andy Kubert, script by Chuck Dixon, breakdowns by Wayne Vansant, finishes by Tony DeZuniga, colors and letters by Phil Felix
(Read more about Joe Hallen here.)

Today in Comics History, July 2, 1937: It's years since you've been there / Now you've disappeared somewhere / Like outer space / You've found some better place

from Ripley's Believe It or Not! (2002 series) #1 (Dark Horse, May 2002), script by Haden Blackman, pencils by Cary Nord, inks by Mark Lipka, letters by Steve Dutro

Today in Comics History, July 2: Happy birthday, Hermann Hesse!

Born on this day long long ago (1877), in a galaxy far far away Germany: writer, artist, philosopher, and poet Howard Hesseman Hermann Hesse! He created Steppenwolf!


"Steppenwolf" from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe (1985 series) #22 (DC, December 1986); pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by Terry Austin; colors by Anthony Tollin, Len Wein, Tatjana Wood, and/or Tom Ziuko
Wait, I've made another one of my silly mistakes. That's by Jack Kirby who is pretty cool too but whose birthday doesn't come for another couple months. No, this is the guy who wrote the work that Kirby named his character after:



from "Steppenwolf" in The Graphic Canon Vol. 3: From "Heart of Darkness" to Hemingway to "Infinite Jest" (Seven Stories Press, July 2013); adaptation, pencils, inks, and letters by John Pierard