Today in Comics History, August 2: Happy birthday, Peter O'Toole!

Born on this day in 1932: acclaimed British actor Peter O'Toole (insert joke from Diamonds Are Forever by Sean Connery), who you've seen in such movies (if you're lucky!) as The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, Man of La Mancha, What's New Pussycat?, Lawrence of Arabia, Troy, and, ahem, Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (and lots more).


photo cover of Goodbye, Mr. Chips one-shot (Gold Key/Western, June 1970)

Today in Comics History, February 3: Happy birthday, Victor Buono!

Born on this day in 1938: actor Victor Buono, whose film and TV credits include What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (he was nominted for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe!), Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Silencers, Robin and the 7 Hoods, The Wild Wild West, Vega$, and many more, including the 1967 heist comedy Who's Minding the Mint?. Mint is a favorite of mine because it stars Jim Hutton (Ellery Queen), and also includes Milton Berle, Walter Brennan, Joey Bishop (it's his birthday today, too!) and Bob Denver, and is co-written by Batman's second-favorite cop, Harvey Bullock! Buono, as "The Captain," is pictured here on the cover (in the back of the boat) in Dell Comics's adaptation of Mint!


photo cover of Who's Minding the Mint? [Movie Comic #12-924-708] one-shot (Dell, August 1967). Yeah, I don't know what's up with that numbering system either.

Today in Comics History, February 19: Happy birthday, Lee Marvin!

Born Punched his way into the world today in 1924: actor, tough guy, and the Webster's Dictionary definition of "cool" (complete with a photo of him): Lee Marvin. His acting credits include The Killers, The Professionals, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Paint Your Wagon...


...The Dirty Dozen, Point Blank, The Big Red One, Cat Ballou, and even Gorilla at Large, the only motion picture to ever be awarded seventy-three Oscars. And yes, he was in comic books, because with that many iconic roles in classic movies, you just know he'd be featured in a MAD magazine parody or two, right?




from "The Amateurs" in MAD #112 (July 1967), script by Larry Siegel, pencils and inks by Mort Drucker
You ain't nobody 'til you've been drawn by Mort Drucker, says the Second Law of Comic Books as drawn up by some cute an' lovable li'l stuffed comics blogger, and Lee Marvin fulfills that notoriety by being drawn not once by Drucker, not twice, but a whole heckuva lotta times. Here's another one, if you can even stand it:


from "The Virginiaham" in MAD #99 (December 1965), script by Lou Silverstone, pencils and inks by Mort Drucker
But let's momentarily give Mort Drucker's drawing hand a rest (ice bags are in the freezer, Mort!) and check out another great master of comics: Darwyn Cooke!


cover of Catwoman: Selina's Big Score (DC, September 2002), art by Darwyn Cooke
Selina's Big Score is a fantastic Catwoman graphic novel in which Cooke "casts" some movie greats at his characters. To the left of Selina's up there is Lee Marvin as Stark, and on the right Chow Yun-fat as Jeff. (Others include Burgess Meredith, himself not a stranger to acting alongside Catwoman, and the delectable and dangerous Pam Grier.)

Let's look at lots of panels not only because Lee Marvin is fun to look at, but because ooh la la, Darwyn Cooke's art is sublime.





from Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, art and letters by Darwyn Cooke, colors by Matt Hollingsworth
More Mort Drucker artwork of Lee Marvin? Sure, why not?


from "The Academy Awards Show We'd Like to See" in MAD #132 (January 1970), script by Larry Siegel, pencils and inks by Mort Drucker
But did Lee Marvin ever has his own comic book?, you ask me. How can you say someone is great who's never had his own comic book? Ahem. Lee Marvin was great.


cover of The Dirty Dozen one-shot (Dell, October 1967), painted cover (movie poster art) by Frank McCarthy
When I think of motion pictures that are ripe for the Dell Movie Classic treatment, I gotta admit that The Dirty Dozen did not pop foremost into my mind. And yet...





from The Dirty Dozen; pencils and inks by Jack Sparling, letters by Charlotte Jetter
The Dirty Dozen! A classic of modern cinema. Which of course means...





from "Dirtier by the Dozen" in MAD #116 (January 1968), script by Lou Silverstone, pencils and inks by guess who...Mort Drucker!
Happy birthday to Lee Marvin! I'm yelling that to him from fifty feet away. He probably wouldn't punch me, but I'm hedging my bets.


from Catwoman: Selina's Big Score

Today in Comics History, February 12: Happy birthday, Joe Don Baker!

Born on this day...

Y'know, every now and then when I'm researching an appearance by a celebrity in comic books, that same celebrity will be eventually revealed as just too pure for comic books. When even Winona Ryder and Olivia Newton-John are aply represented and star in comics but this one actor isn't, that does tend to point to his uniqueness in the field. I had rather hoped to find him in the pages of MAD, but it doesn't look like they've parodied a single one of his movies or TV shows.

I'd thought I hit the jackpot when I found out there had been a series from Topps Comics adapating the James Bond thriller GoldenEye...


from James Bond 007: Goldeneye #1-2 (Topps, January 1996), painted cover o #1 by Brian Stelfreeze
...but it turns out this comics miniseries was cancelled after issue #1, and today's birthday boy doesn't make an appearance in the movie until the second half, so we miss out on him in comics again!

That's why I'll just wish Joe Don Baker a very happy birthday, without being able to show any comic book that he's ever been in, at all.









...Except the 1975 Dell Movie Classic adapation of his greatest firm and most iconic role.


cover of Mitchell [Dell Classic Movie Comic] one-shot (Dell, September 1975), painted cover by John Saxon and Merlin Olsen
Happy birthday, Joe Don! Have some cake.

Paper Doll Month, Extra!!: Lady, That's My Paper Doll

Not many people remember that I was actually in a Disney movie with Hayley Mills...


Panels from That Darn Bull! one-shot (February 1966), pencils and inks by Dan Spiegle
That's okay, because my good pal Sleestak, master of all he surveys over at his blog Lady, That's My Skull, knows all about my long movie career with his favorite actress, including my brief cameo appearance in Disney's European romance-adventure The Moon-Spinners.


Panels from the Moon-Spinners one-shot (October 1964), pencils and inks by Dan Spiegle
Anyway, not only is Sleestak the world's foremost collector of Dell Comics starring Ms. Mills and yours truly, but he's also been a fan of my recent Paper Doll Month! And when we had a discussion via the internet-matron about paper dolls and Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy, and a particular comic strip so surreal that even Salvador Dalí was heard to exclaim "No puedo creerlo! Este joven llamado Sluggo, que está flotando en el aire! Es un desafío a la imaginación!" (Translation: "Ay carumba!"):


Nancy comic strip (April 27, 1953), by Ernie Bushmiller
Sleestak brilliantly then came up with

The Greatest Paper Dolls Ever Made

...and I've put that in really bold text with a hyperlink because I'm not gonna show it to you, you gotta click over to see it.

Then, when you're done being amazing at The Greatest Paper Dolls Ever Made, cap off Paper Doll Month by checking out his paper doll mash-up of me with Lady Cassandra from TV's Doctor Who. I was flattened by this homage!

What are you waiting for? make with the clickety-clicks to see

The Greatest Paper Dolls Ever Made!

Tell Sleestak Bully sent ya!

The New Doctor is a little girl

Panels from Movie Classic #190 [Dr. Who and the Daleks] (December 1966), pencils by Dick Giordano, inks by Sal Trapani

So who is Kia Pegg?

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 29: X-ray specs not included

Cover of X, the Man with the X-Ray Eyes one-shot (Gold Key, September 1963), painted cover by George Wilson, with a photograph of Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier*



*Professor Charles Xavier's hairier, x-rayier brother.

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 28: I don't think I am allowed to read comic books about an orgy of wild lust...oh, cool, Vincent Price!

Cover of Movie Classic #490 [The Masque of the Red Death] (Dell, August-October 1964), photograph of Vincent Price as Prince Prospero

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 24: Wordy Wrappington

Cover of Movie Classic #537 [The Mummy] (Dell, September-November 1962), artist unknown

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 14: Read this comic, nevermore

Cover of Movie Classic #309 [Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven] (September 1963), photo of Vincent Price as Dr. Erasmus Craven