Today in Comics History, August 2: Happy birthday, Peter O'Toole!

Born on this day in 1932: acclaimed British actor Peter O'Toole (insert joke from Diamonds Are Forever by Sean Connery), who you've seen in such movies (if you're lucky!) as The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, Man of La Mancha, What's New Pussycat?, Lawrence of Arabia, Troy, and, ahem, Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (and lots more).


photo cover of Goodbye, Mr. Chips one-shot (Gold Key/Western, June 1970)

Today in Comics History, August 1: Happy birthday, Claudius!

Ave Claudius! And happy birthday to ya too, because today's your birthday (born August 1, 10 BC), Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus! Better known to the world as jus' plain Claudius, which makes it easier to write birthday cards to him, especially when you had to chistle 'em into slate tablets. "Happy birthday, Claude!" (thunk) Not that he wasn't mighty enough to pick 'em up:


from "[I Made an Airplane]" in Kid Eternity (1946 series) #5 (Quality, Spring 1947), pencils and inks by Pete Riss (?) or Witmer Williams (?)

Fun with Comics: How Bertie Wooster would have handled Nazis

from the Junior Rangers story in Headline Comics v.1 #7 (Prize, Spring 1944), art by Henry Kiefer (?)

The August 1968 2024 Calendar for This Menacing Year

Come on, man! Time to answer your landline to participate in a Republican-backed phone poll that will be presented as representing 100% of the population of America instead of the sliver of percentage who answer blind calls and still have a telephone that won't fit in your pocket. Lookin' at you, Mom. Anyway, this little stuffed bull gives you the permission to ignore your phone all month.


from Spider-Man: Marvels Snapshots #1 (one-shot) (Marvel, December 2020); script, pencils, and inks by Howard Chaykin; colors by Jesus Aburtov; letters by Ken Bruzenak
Instead, why not cool off in August by divin' into the pool of a complete stranger as suggested by this real calendar you can use all thru this month of August 2024, huh? Wow, McGruff the Crime Dog can't get to Dennis's neighborhood fast enough.


"August 1968" from Dennis the Menace Giant #51 [Dennis the Menace Christmas Special] (Hallden/Fawcett, Winter 1967), creators unidentified and unknown

Remember: don't pick up your phone! It might just be Ghostface.

(And oh yeah, PS: here's a calendar you can use if you're only gonna be around the last two weeks of August. Like, say, if you come out of a coma on the 18th or somethin'.)


from Spider-Gwen: Gwen-Verse #2 (Marvel, June 2022), script by Tim Seeley, pencils and inks by Jodi Nishijima, colors by Federico Blee, letters by Ariana Maher