Today in Comics History, April 6: Happy birthday, Gil Kane!

Born on this day in 1926: Gil Kane, prolific and influential comics artist on Strange Adventures, Green Lantern, All Star Western, Mystery in Space, Conan the Barbarian, Rex the Wonder Dog, The Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Atom, Marvel Team-Up, Big Town, Detecrive Comics, Iron Man and so many, many more! He co-created the Silver Age Green Lantern and Atom, Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians of Oa, Sinestro, Guy Gardner, the Floronic Man, Iron Fist, Morbius, the Bug-Eyed Bandit, and more!


from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1979 (Marvel, 1978)

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1917: Shortest history ever of World War I

from "Too Tough To Live" in Thrilling Comics #68 (Pines, October 1948), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1864: Ghost unable to make South rise again

from "A Very Special Spirit" in Ghosts (1971 series) #97 (DC, February 1981), Script script by Mimai Kin, opencils and inks by Michael Netzer, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Albert DeGuzman
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 2024 in this series. Thanks, Blam!

Today in Comics History, April 6: Right next to the dog-faced boy

from Daredevil (1964 seties) #293 (Marvel, June 1991), script by Dan Chichester, pencils by Lee Weeks, inks by Al Williamson, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Jack Morelli

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1940: Plane turns back into pumpkin at midnight

from "Flying Cinderella" in Calling All Girls #2 (Parents' Magazine Press, December 1941), creators unknown

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1972: Worst Easter ever (much worse than the one all the eggs melted)

Tne beginning of the 1972 Easter Offensive in the Vietnam War:


from "Ruff-Puffs" in The 'Nam #74 (Marvel, November 1992), script by Don Lomax, pencils and inks by Wayne Vansant, colors and letters by Phil Felix
Meanwhile, Stateside, things weren't going well either:


from "Once a Sergeant" in The 'Nam #74; script by Don Lomax, pencils by Mike Harris, inks by Jimmy Palmiotti, colors by John Kalisz, letters by Phil Felix

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1999: "Um" is fixed*

from Radio: An Illustrated Guide one-shot (WBEZ Alliance, 1999), co-script by Ira Glass; co-script, pencils, inks, and letters by Jessica Abel
*No, seriously. That's exactly what this is.

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1805: Spring has spring / The grass is riz / I wonder where / The flesh-eating monsters is

from Manifest Destiny #37 (Image, October 2019), script by Chris Dingess, pencils and inks by Matthew Roberts, colors by Owen Gieni, letters by Pat Brosseau

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1909: White man begrudgingly gives partial credit

from "Scoops...Pictures to Remember" in Real Fact Comics #1 (DC, March 1946), pencils and inks by George Russos


from "North to the Pole" in Real Heroes #14 (Parents' Magazine Press, May 1946), credtors unknown

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1897: Another Great Tale of the Sea and the Men Who Sail It and Are Sick Upon It

from "Strangely Believe It!" in MAD #38 (March 1958); text by Ernie Kovacs; pencils, inks, and letters by Wally Wood

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1964: Most vile villain of all time torments heroic, innocent bull

from Daredevil (1964 series) #5 (December 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils and inks by Wally Wood, colors by Stan Goldberg (?), letters by Sam Rosen

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1981: Sun comes up, and it all pretty much goes downhill after that.

from Avengers (1963 series) #209 (Marvel, July 1981), script by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Dan Green, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Janice Chiang

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1862: Wounded soldier cries out for Attorney General

from "Johnny Clem — The Yankee Devil" in Real Life Comics #4 (Pines, April 1942), creators unknown

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1988: The New Universe: The World Inside That Window, If You're a Peeping Tom

from Psi-Force #24 (Marvel/New Universe, October 1988), script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Mike Witherby, colors by Nelson Yomtov, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1990: Scarlett Johansson is completely unaware that Darkseid is sneaking up on her

from Black Widow: The Coldest War graphic novel (April 1990); script by Gerry Conway; pencils by George Freeman; inks by Ernie Colon, Mark Farmer, George Freeman, Mark Harris, Val Mayerik, and Joe Rubinstein; colors by Lovern Kindzierski, letters by Ron Muns

Today in Comics History, April 6: Commissioner Gordon comforts the abnormally swollen head of Charlie Brown

from Batman #405 (March 1987), script by Frank Miller, pencils and inks by David Mazzucchelli, colors by Richmond Lewis, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, April 6: In Gotham City, even more Kanes are discovered

...to go along with Kathy Kane...Kate Kane...Elizabeth Kane...Montague Kane...Debra Kane...Bob Kane...Cassandra Cain......Gil Kane (happy birthday!)...Kandy Kane...


from Detective Comics #598 (DC, March 1989), script by Sam Hamm, pencils by Denys Cowan, inks by Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Todd Klein
...Big Daddy Kane...Horatio Caine...Commander Cain...Kaine Parker...Edgar James "Cobber" Kain...walking cane...the Classical Association of New England...