Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Skip Dietz!

Celebrating a birthday today: Skip Dietz, who's written stories for Marvel Comics Presents, Inhumans, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and Infinity War! Also, Impossible Man and Rick Jones here tell us he was a "coordinator" at Marvel!


from Marvel Age #104 (Marvel, September 1991), text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Renee Witterstaetter
Happy birthday, Skip!

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Robert Redford!

Born on this day: actor, director, and whatta dreamboat Robert Redford! He was on the cover of a Marvel comic book issue #1!


from ALF #1 (Marvel, March 1988), photograph plus pencils by Dave Manak, inks by Marie Severin
But it's true: the real Bob hasn't appeared in many comic books, but here's a genuine modeling job that paid off big for him in the comics world!


cover of Young Love (1949 series) v. 4 #1 [#31] (Prize, March 1952), photographer uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy Unity Day!

Hope you're havin' a fine Unity Day! What's Unity Day? Um....

from Superman (2018 series) #14 (DC, October 2019), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils by Ivan Reis, inks by Joe Prado and Oclair Albert, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Wes Abbott
(Click picture to Legion-size)

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Wing!

Born today before WWII: The Crimson Avenger's chauffeur and sidekick, and member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Wing!


from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1972: Ironically, then he ran right into the Crawling Eye

from "This Archaic Breeding Ground..." in Scream (1973 series) #1 (Skywald, August 1973), script by Al Hewetson, pencils and inks by José Gual

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Robert Venditti!

Born on this day: comics writer Robert Venditti, co-creator of Damage II (Ethan "Elvis" Avery) and The Surrogates, scripter on Hawkman, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan and the GLC, Justice League, Superman '78, Demon Knights, Freedom Fighters, Book of Death, Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, X-O Manowar, and many more books!


from DC Comics cover-dated January 2018
Happy birthday, Robert!

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Virginia Dare!

Born on this day in 1587 (so you know she's more mature than you): Virginia Dare, the first English child born in a New World English colony. And not the last, but you know how that went.


from Batman/Spawn: War Devil one-shot (DC/Image, May 1994); script by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant; pencils, inks, and colors by Klaus Janson; computer colors by Steve Buccellato; letters by Todd Klein
And now, a much less creepy depiction of that event!:


from "The Story of Jamestown, Virginia" in Flash Comics (1940 series) #63 (DC/All-American, March 1945), script by M. C. Gaines and W. W. D. Sones, pencils and inks by Allen Simon

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1982: THIS MAN! Has just won a fabulous two-week vacation in Iran, all expenses paid by the CIA!

from Psi-Force #21 (Marvel/New Universe, July 1988), script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Mike Witherby, colors by Nelson Yomtov, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History: Happy birthday, Criswell!

Born on this day in 1907, Jeron Criswell King, better known to B-movie fans as The Amazing Criswell! Wikipedia: "an American psychic known for wildly inaccurate predictions." You may remember him from the opening sequence of Plan 9 from Outer Space, written and directed by America's only cinematographical artiste, Ed Wood!


from "Ed Wood Jr." in The Big Book of Weirdos (DC/Paradox, April 1995), script by Carl Posey, pencils and inks by Mitch O'Connell, letters by Rod Ollerenshaw
Criswell died in 1982. Ya think he predicted that?


from "The Edward D. Wood, Jr. Players Trading Cards" in Heavy Metal v.9 #1 (Heavy Metal, April 1985); script, pencils, inks and letters by Drew Friedman
Happy birthday, Criswell, baby! I predict birthday cake tonight!


"Criswell Predicts," opening scene of Plan 9 from Outer Space (Reynolds Pictures, Inc., 1957),
written, directed, edited and produced by Ed Wood

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1948: Looming deadline forces entire comics book panel to be a caption

from Jackie Robinson #1 (Fawcett, Summer 1949), script by Charles Dexter, pencils by Clem Weisbecker, inks by John Jordan

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Barbara Altman!

Born on this day: Barbara Altman, who worked in production and design at Marvel Comics in 1974-1976!


from 1975 Mighty Marvel Convention Program Book 1975 (Marvel, 1975), photograph by Michele Wolfman
Happy birthday, Barbara!

Today in Comics History, August 18, 2014: I don't know about you, but I can certainly sit and wait

from The Wicked + The Divine #20 (Image, June 2016), script by Kieron Gillen, pencils and inks by Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, flattens by Dee Cunniffe, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1931: Neil deGrasse Tyson exacts his terrible revenge

from Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #1 (IDW, May 2016); adapted from the video game story by Bob Gale, Michael Stemmle, Andy Hartzell, and Jonathan Straw; adapted by Bob Gale and Erik Burnnham; script by Erik Burnham; pencils and inks by Alan Robinson; colors by Maria Santrolalla; letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, August 18, 1692: Marvel's adaptation of The Crucible does not have enough Spider-Man in it

from Marvel Team-Up (1972 series) #43 (Marvel, March 1976), script by Bill Mantlo, breakdowns by Sal Buscema, finishes and backgrounds by Mike Esposito and Dave Hunt, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Karen Mantlo

Today in Comics History, August 18: Crook uses newly oiled gun to shoot pool

from "The Diary of a Desperado" in Adventure Comics #145 (DC, October 1949), script by Otto Binder, pencils and inks by George Papp

Today in Comics History, August 18: Tim Drake finishes his homework five minutes early

from "All the Deadly Days, Chapter 5: Bloodthirsty Thursday" in Batman 80-Page Giant #3 (July 2000), script by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Louis Small, Jr., inks by Caesar, colors by Glenn Whitmore, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, August 18: A lovely date with Alfred Pennyworth

from "The Death of a Romantic" in Heartthrobs #3 (DC/Vertigo, March 1999), script by Peter Milligan, pencils and inks by Eduardo Risso, colors by Grant Goleash, letters by Clem Robins

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Kevin Church!

And a big happy birthday to the biggest little Pet Shop Boys fan around, Kevin Church!

Today in Comics History, August 18: Happy birthday, Kevin Church! (or, The thirty-third is always the most exciting!)

cover of Amazing Spider-Man (1963 series) #33 (Marvel, February 1966), pencils and inks by Steve Ditko, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Sam Rosen
Happy Birthday, Kevin Church!