Today in Comics History, October 11: Happy birthday, Dawn French!

Born on this day: actor, comedian, and writer Dawn French (French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley, The Comic Strip, The Young Ones, Girls on Top, Psychoville, Murder Most Horrid and more)! Here, Dawn and fellow comic/writer Ben Elton raise money for Comic Relief...in a comic!



from "Comic Relief, Part 8" in The Comic Relief Comic (Fleetway, March 1991), pencils and inks by Steve Yeowell
And here she is in one of my very favorite scenes from The Young Ones.


from The Young Ones "Time," series 2 episode 4 (BBC, 5 June 1984); written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lise Mayer; directed by Paul Jackson
Happy birthday, Dawn!

Today in Comics History, January 6: Happy birthday, Rowan Atkinson!

Please join me in wishing a very beany birthday to writer, actor, and comedian Rowan Atkinson (Not the Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder, Mr. Bean, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, The Lion King, Maigret, and much more)! Also: comic book star!


from Mr Bean's Entertaining Escapades #1 (Tiger Aspect, June 2016), creators unidentified (shame!)
Happy birthday, Rowan Atkinson!



from "Blackadder" in The Comic Relief Comic one-shot (Fleetway, March 1991); pencils, inks, and color by Phil Winslade (?)