Today in Comics History, April 15: Happy birthday, Jerry Grandenetti!

Born on this day in 1926: comic book artist, and advertising art exec Jerry Grandenetti! He was a member of the Eisner Studio; in the 1950s Grandenetti was penciling The Spirit as a ghost-artist, under Eisner's byline.

Before that, however, Eisner drew Grandenetti and letterer Abe Kanegson into the strip as the criminal trio Bellows, Dapperish, and Slippery Eall. The boys are back in town! I mean jail. (L-R in the panel: Grandenetti as Dapperish, Kanegson as Bellows, and Eisner as Slippery Eall.



from The Spirit (1980 series) #25 (Kitchen Sink, November 1986); reprinting "A River of Crime" (aka "Slippery Eall") from The Spirit (Register and Tribune Syndicate, November 30th, 1947); script, pencils, and inks by Will Eisner; additional inks by Jerry Grandenetti; letters by Abe Kanegson

Today in Comics History, April 15: Let's make fun of Nikita Khrushchev on his birthday!

This is a much-expanded and updated version of the post previously titled "Khrushchev asserts his hatred of dogs," originally published April 15, 2015.

Born on this day in 1894, so you just know he's out of touch: Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, head of Communist Russia, shoe-banger, subject of a song by Elton John!


from "This Godless Communism" in Treasure Chest of Fact and Fun v.17 #16/322 (Pflaum, April 12, 1962), creators unknown

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1972: Vietnam War is not going well, thanks to the Army's controversial use of white lettering on black blackground

from "Yankee Station" in The 'Nam #77 (Marvel, February 1993), script by Don Lomax, pencils and inks by Wayne Vansant, colors and letters by Phil Felix
Meanwhile, back in the States...


from "Stateside: Reunion" in The 'Nam #77; script by Don Lomax, pencils by Mike Harris, inks by Frank Percy, colors by John Kalisz, letters by Mike Higgins

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1931: Opening of new Spaghetti Warehouse marred by gunplay

from "Bullet-Man of the Bowery" in Crime Must Pay the Penalty #2 (Ace, June 1948), pencils and inks by Sid Greene

Today in Comics History, April 15: The following blog post may be unsuitable for those of a nervous nature or little bulls

from "The Hands of Don José" in Adventures into Darkness #9 (Pines, April 1953), pencils by Alex Toth, inks by Mike Peppe

Today in Comics History, April 15: Happy birthday, Tom Sutton!

Born on this day in 1937: Tom Sutton, comics artist (and sometimes writer!) for DC (House of Mystery, Star Trek, Weird War Tales), Marvel (Warlock, Marvel Comics Presents, Doctor Strange, Planet of the Apes), Charlton (Ghost Manor, The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves, Haunted), First (Starslayer, Grimjack), Skywald (Nightmare, Psycho), Warren (Creepy, Eerie), and he's a co-creator of Vampirella!


from FOOM #16 (Marvel, December 1976), text by Warren Reece
Here he is introducing a spooky story! oooh, it is scary! (I'll be behind the sofa if you need me.)


from "To Sneak...Perchance to Scream!" in Tower of Shadows #4 (Marvel, March 1970); plot, pencils, and inks by Tom Sutton, script by Denny O'Neil, letters by Jean Simek Izzo
And here is is telling us what happens "When Freuds go Amok!"



from Chamber of Darkness #4 (Marvel, April 1970); plot, pencils, and inks by Tom Sutton; script by Denny O'Neil; letters by Jean Simek Izzo
Happy birthday, Tom!


from FOOM #19 (Marvel, September 1977)

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1986: I dunno, some kind of timey-wimey stuff

from Back to the Future (2015 series) #14, 16, and 17 (IDW, November 2016, January 2017, and February 2017), script by John Barber, pencils and inks by Emma Vieceli, colors by Jose Luis Rio, letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1865: Man sitting in front of Lincoln's bed is so traumatized all the color drains from his face

from Picture Stories from American History #4 (EC, Summer 1947), script by Jerry Coleman, pencils and inks by Allen Simon

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1912: "Hello, I'm the Titanic! You may remember me from such blog features as last's month's 'Liberty Bell March.'"

from Time Bandits #1 one-shot (February 1982), script by Steve Parkhouse, pencils by David Lloyd, inks by John Stokes, colors by Don Warfield, letters by Irving Watanabe
(Here, to be specific. Where you can read more about the Time Bandits comic!)

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1912: Iceberg sticks around to taunt the Titanic

from "A Voyage into Forever!" in Strange Journey #3 (Farrell, February 1958), cover: artist uncredited, interior: pencils by H.C. Kiefer, inks by the Iger Shop

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1912: And no, they both wouldn't have fit on that door

from "The Tragedy of the Titanic" in Real Fact Comics #7 (DC, March 1947); script by Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, and/or Bernie Breslauer; pencils by Curt Swan (?)

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1912: Well, maybe they shouldn't have steered straight for the iceberg

from "Scoops...Pictures to Remember" in Real Fact Comics #3 (DC, July 1946); script by Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinge, and/or Bernie Breslauer; pencils and inks by George Roussos

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1973: The Day the Earth Stood Bored

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published April 15, 2015.

'Twas midnight on tax day, and suddenly this dude
Came up from the ground like a-bubblin' crude


from "The Monster!" in Adventures into Weird Worlds #12 (Marvel/Atlas, November 1952), pencils and inks by Ed Winiarski
(But where does it say it's in '73?
Well, it does in the reprint and that's good for me.)


from "It Came From Beneath the Earth!" (reprint) in Weird Wonder Tales #1 (Marvel, December 1973)
He tried to scare kids, but it wasn't no fun
'Coz in this world, Steve Rogers carried a gun


He faced off with a cop but escaped getting flack
Good thing he was green instead of being black.


He tried to scare women; she showed him no mercy
'Coz this real bad-ass dame hailed from down home in Joisey.


So the monster discovered his attacks were quite futile
Ha ha! It's a comment that mankind is brutal.

Today in Comics History, April 15: Happy birthday, Leonardo da Vinci!

Born today in 1452...this guy!:


from InvincibleIron Man #600 (Marvel, July 2018); script by Brian Michael Bendis (who else); pencils, inks, and colors by a whole lotta people; letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1912: Jughead joins the sixty-two other time travellers on board the Titanic

from "Unstuck in Time!" in Archie Giant Series Magazine #602 [The World of Jughead] (Archie, October 1989), script by Rich Margopoulos, pencils by Doug Crane, inks by Tom Moore, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
"There's no Mr. Jones on our passenger list."

Today in Comics Histor, April 15, 1865: Kid Colt totally picks the wrong day to get a Presidential pardon

from the Kid Colt story "Gunfight at Gila Pass!" in Gunsmoke Western #61 (Marvel/Atlas, November 1960), script by Stan Lee, pencils and inks by Jack Keller, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by ARtie Simek