Today in Comics History Future, March 26, 2073: Darn post-apocalyptic liberal media

from "Daily Survivor" in Crazy Magazine #1 (Marvel, October 1973); text by Tony Isabella, Gerry Conway, Steve Skeates, and Carla Conway; pencils and inks by Marie Severin and Dave Hunt

Today in Comics History, March 25: Happy birthday, Paul Michael Glaser!

Born on this date: actor, director, and writer Paul Michael Glaser, who's been in Fiddler on the Roof, Butterflies Are Free, The Great Houdini, Princess Daisy and more. He's directed The Running Man, The Air Up There, Band of the Hand, Kazaam, episodes of Miami Vice and more, but he'll always have a place in our seventies-fond hearts as Detective Dave Starsky (face it, how many of you actually knew his first name? Or that he's the dark-haired one?) in the 1970s TV action series Starsky & Hutch!



from "Slobsky & Hunch" Crazy Magazine #21 (Marvel, November 1976), script by Len Herman, pencils and inks by Murad Gümen

Today in Comics History, March 25: Happy birthday, Elton John!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published March 25, 2022.

Born on this date, already wearing a sparkly pair of sunglasses and chunky heels: Elton John, the world's only Rock Star!


cover of Look-In #37/1973 (ITV, 8 September 1973), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, September 21: Happy birthday, Larry Hagman!

Born on this day in 1931: actor (and director and producer) Larry Hagman! You know him from a whole lotta film and TV shows, and especially from that time he had his house saved by Iron Man:


from Iron Man (1968 series) #222 (Marvel, September 1987), co-plot and script by David Michelinie, co-plot and finishes by Bob Layton, breakdowns by M. D. Bright, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Janice Chiang
This scene was slightly adapted into 2013's Iron Man 3 movie, and the only reason it didn't co-star Larry Hagman was that Robert Downey felt Hagman would be too awesome for the film. And also, Hagman died in 2012.

BatrocTober, Day 5: Okay, you didn't need the slur on the French here, but otherwise...

house ad for Crazy from Marvel Comics cover-dated March 1980

Today in Comics History, September 8: Happy birthday, Peter Sellers!

Born on this day in 1925: actor and comedian Peter Sellers, who appeared (several times more than once!) in many films over a thirty year career, notably as bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther movie series.


from Film Fun #2095 (Amalgamated UK, 12 March 1960)

Today in Comics History, July 20: Happy birthday, Dick Giordano!

Born on this day in 1932: comics penciller/inker and editor Dick Giordano! He's drawn Sarge Steel, Strange Suspense Stories (his artwork there stolen and reappropriated by Roy Lichenstein), Action Comics (Atom, Human Target, Green Arrow), Batman, The Brave and the Bold, Love Romances, Modesty Blaise, Elongated Man in The Flash and Detective Comics, Doctor Strange, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Lois Lane (Rose and Thorn), and much more, including inking such prestigious books as Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, Wonder Woman, Thor, Atari Force, John Byrne's Man of Steel, Neil gaiman's Sandman, Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Bloodshot, and Crisis on Infinite Earths! And the proverbial multitude of others! And his own instructional book Draw Comics with Dick Giordano! (Amazon ad) He co-founded Continuity Associates with Neal Adams! He co-created Leslie Thompkins and Talia al Ghul! What hasn't this guy done?



house ads from DC Comics cover-dated December 1970 (top) and November 1971 (bottom)

Today in Comics History, June 30: Happy birthday, Christopher Priest!

Born on this day: comics scipter and editor Christopher Priest or just Priest (aka James Owsley), the first Black writer/editor in mainstream comics! His extensive work includes Conan, Black Panther, Justice League, Steel, Vampirella, Deathstroke, Quantum and Woody, and much more! Priest also co-created Quantum and Woody, Okoye of Wakanda, Everett K. Ross, and others.


from Black Panther (Marvel, 1998 series) #12 (October 1999)

Atlas April, Day 6: The Thin Man Strikes Back

There's quite a few variations on "97 lb. weakling" comic strip that we saw in the first round of Charles Atlas ads. Here's another popular variation that focuses not so much on the sand-kicking-in-the-face as it does the inherant skinniness of that One Guy who needs the mindset and training that Atlas can give him. Yes, the famous "Hey Skinny!" advertisement starring poor bony Mac! Hey, ya big bully, it's in to be slim!


Charles Atlas advertisement in DC Comics cover-dated April 1955
ad copyright ©1955 and 2022 Charles Atlas Ltd.
"Hey Skinny!" became such a ubiquitous phrase that a fun book on the history of comic book advertisements was actually titled that! Check it out; Bully recommends! (Amazon ad)



And now it's time for our parody Atlas ad, which pokes gentle, good-natured fun at...WHOA NELLY! This is the first one I'be seen that promised actual death! I'll just stick to the cupcakes, thank you.


"The Insult That Made A Corpse Out Of "Mac"" from Crazy #9 (Marvel, February 1975), script by Russ Maheras, pencils and inks by Marie Severin (?)

Today in Comics History, January 29: Happy birthday, Steve Skeates!

Born on this day: Steve Skeates, writer for comic books (Adventure Comics, The Flash, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Debbi's Dates, Plastic Man, Plop!, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves, Underdog, Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, and many other comics at Tower, Charlton, DC, Gold Key, Red Circle, Archie, and Warren Publishing), animation (Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Jem) and self-publisher ("Could I Have My Reality Check Please?").

Didja know (I didn't!) that he's the actual author of Marvel's Generic Comic Book, published under the pseudonym "A Writer." Speaking of pen names, Steve has also written under the aliases Chester P. Hazel and Warren Savin. I mention that because it'll become an Important Point™ a little later. Not too much later, but not right now! Geez, people, have some patience.


from "Behind the Scenes at the House of Mystery" in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-23 [The House of Mystery] (DC, Winter 1973), text by Joe Orlando
Here's another fun fact I discovered about Steve while researching him on Wikipedia ("We Don't Charge You for Our Encyclopedia But by Golly We'll Hound You to the Death for a $3.75 Donation"):

One of the series Skeates wrote at DC in the 1970s was Plastic Man, for which he created the villain Carrot Man, an evil game show host who hit contestants on their heads with a toaster. When that character appeared on the Plastic Man animated show, his creator received no royalties, but the showrunners "tried to make good" by changing Carrot Man's true identity to Stephen Skeates.

Oh wait. That's not fun at all! That's just another case of a writer being cheated out of royalities and given "exposure" instead! I'm going to report you to @forexposure_txt, DC! Sheesh.

Here's Steve apologizing for jumbled-up rules in a Doctor Strange game he wrote in Crazy Magazine. I imagine Pal Dr.PTOR, collector of all things Stephen Strange, has a copy, but do you think he has the correct rules?


from Crazy Magazine #91 (Marvel, October 1982)

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Edit on 3/22/2022: Hey, Dr.PTOR did have a copy, and all the rules, and he's bligged about it, scanned it, and offered it for download! So head over to the leading Doc Strange blog to get it by clicking here! Thanks, oh Munificent One!

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Say, speaking of board games...and trust me, this segue makes sense, unlike this segue...


...because no matter how confusing that Doctor Strange game was, it can't possibly be as bad as this Abbott and Costello board game from a comic book (trust me, I'm getting there)...


"Abbott & Costello Game Page" from Abbott & Costello (1968 series) #8 (Charlton, April 1969), script by Steve Skeates, pencils and inks by Tony Tallarico (?), letters by Ray Burzon
...which is in the same comic book as this story that features a character named Warren Savin (trust me, we're so almost there), which, if you remember all the way back to the top of this post, was a pseudonym for Steve Skeates! (Blows horns, whistles, lets off streamers to celebrate the fact that we finally got to the Interesting Point™ I'd promised you at the beginning)!




from Abbott & Costello #8
We leave Bud 'n' Lou debating the potential player line-up of an upcoming game of baseball and we leave Steve Skeates by wishing him a very happy birthday. Happy birthday, Steve!

Today in Comics History, January 14: Happy birthday, Faye Dunaway!

Born on this day: award-winning and acclaimed actress Faye Dunaway, star of some classic motion pictures as Bonnie and Clyde, Three Days of the Condor, Chinatown, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Thomas Crown Affair, and my personal favorite of her work, 1984's Supergirl!



from Supergirl Movie Special one-shot (DC, February 1985); script by Joey Cavalieri; pencils, inks, and colors by Gray Morrow; letters by John Costanza

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 362: The Fuppets Take Manhattan

It's those lazy crazy hazy days between Christmas and New Year's when we don't have to go back to school yet but we've already broken all our holiday toys* (not me, I'm really careful with 'em, altho I've eaten all my stocking candy), and if you're anything like me, you're bored and want a project to occupy your hooves. Well, I've dug my way into Bully's Comics Vault and come up with an issue of Crazy, the House of Idea's second-tier parody magazine for when you couldn't find MAD at the newsstand. Mind you, even if Crazy isn't as acclaimed as its Distinguished Competition, they did have a decent bullpen of writers and artists. This ish contains stuff written or drawn by Marv Wolfman, Bobby London, Mike Ploog, Bob Foster, Marie Severin, John Buscema, and even Jack Kirby's Fin Fang Foom reprinted with new humorous dialogue by Christopher Priest aka Jim Owsley!

Crazy also occasionally featured do-it-yourself shoebox puppet theaters and finger puppets called Fuppets, for clever portmanteau purposes as well as please-don't-sue-us copyright reasons. And it co-stars J. Jonah Jameson, who I know you've been dying to put your fingers up inside of! Dig out your own copy of Crazy #73 (I know you've got one somewhere), get out your paste and scissors (or have an adult get out paste and scissors for you) so you can make the whole shebang! (I'm only reposting a few pages from it, but you get the general DIY idea.)


Panels from "The Fabulous Fuppets Starring in the Spider-Man Television Theatre" in Crazy Magazine #73 (April 1981), script by Steve Skeates, puppet art by John Romita, Sr., props and scenery art by Ron Zalme
The feature provides it all: finger puppets Fuppets™...


...props...yes, that is an iron lung to put Aunt May into!


...several switchable backdrops for real shoebox action!...


...scripts, with dialogue punched up by David Mamet...


But best of all, here's the two-page how-to-do-it comic segment that gives us the groundbreaking Marvel Team-Up of J. Jonah Jameson and the Incredible Hulk! JONAH WILL SMASH!



So don't just sit there and read comic books on your Christmas vacation: take JJJ's advice and go out and make stuff! Alternate Christmas vacation activity: just sit there and read comic books.

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 155: I only bought it because MAD was sold out

Panel from "Star Warts Too: The Empire Strikes Out" in Crazy #66 (September 1980), script by Paul Kupperberg, pencils and inks by Bob McLeod