Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, Sean Astin!

It's the birthday today of everybody's favorite halfling, actor Sean Astin, who you may remember from such motion pictures and televisual shows as The Goonies, Rudy, Memphis Belle, Icebreaker, 24, Stranger Things, and a little thing called The Lord of the Rings, soon to be remade at Warner Brothers but probably without Sean, so boo hiss.

Does Sean enjoy MAD magazine? See for yourself!


from MAD #260 (January 1986)

Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, June Tarpé Mills!

Born on this day in 1912: comics writer and illustrator June Tarpé Mills, one of the first major female comics artists (Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics, Amazing Man Comics, Our Love Story, Amazing Mystery Funnies, Funny Pages, Prize Comics, more) and the creator of the first woman action hero, Miss Fury, for Marvel/Timely.


from "Golden Girls" in Fearless (2019 series) #4 (Marvel, December 2019); script by Trina Robbins; pencils, inks, and colors by Marguerite Sauvage; letters by Cardinal Rae
A very happy birthday to you, Miss Mills!


from Girl Comics (2010 series) #2 (Marvel, July 2010), text by Trina Robbins (?), Mills illustration by Colleen Coover

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1947: Kool-Aid is uncharacteristically silent

from "Memories of Hator" in Wonder Woman: Black & Gold #5 (DC, December 2021); script, pencils, inks, and colors by Trung Le Nguyen, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1911: Then Everett True got into a fistfight with President Taft until they both laughed about it, then sat down and ate an entire roast elephant

Alley Oop (Newspaper Enterprise Association, April 21, 1969), by V. T. Hamlin with assistance by Dave Graue
(Special thanks to the CLASSIC COMIC STRIPS Twitter feed for bringing this one to my little stuffed attention!)

Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, Rick Geary!

A very happy birthday today to award-winning comics artist and illustrator Rick Geary, who you'll know from National Lampoon, The New York Times Book Review, A Treasury of Victorian Murder and A Treasury of XXth Century Murder, Classics Illustrated, graphic novel biographies of J. Edgar Hoover and Trotsky, plus lots more, including two of my favorite comic books of all time: the Wildcard Ink Gumby series and Dark Horse's Junior Carrot Patrol. Both are the sheer definition of "Comics Oughta Be Fun!" — and they are. I highly recommend pickin' 'em up wherever you see 'em.


from Usagi Yojimbo #100 (Dark Horse, January 2007); script by Mike Richardson; pencils, inks, and letters by Rick Geary
Happy birthday, Rick!


from A Treasury of XX Century Murder Compendium I (NBM, April 2017), art by Rick Geary

Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, Lev Gleason!

Born today in 1898, so don't mention his age: Lev Gleason, writer, editor, and publisher of the aptly named Lev Gleason Comics line (what are the chances, huh?), including Daredevil Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics, Silver Streak Comics, Black Diamond Western, and many others.

That's winning in comics books, wouldn't you say? Until you read this: "While at United Features, Lev Gleason was one of those who rejected the submission of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster." Oh, geez, Lev. There, there, honey. It'll be okay. Stop crying.

Here's Lev with other Gleason-published comics creators Bob Wood and Charles Biro:


from Lev Gleason comics indicia-dated September, 1946
Here It Is! Small caricatures of Lev, Bob, and Charles!


house ad from Daredevil Comics (1941 series) #65 (Lev Gleason, August 1950), creators unknown
So, how do you feel about all these birthday greetings, Lev?

Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, Gert Fröbe!

Born today in 1913, a pretty bad time to be born German but he seems to have done eventually okay by himself*: actor Gert Fröbe, bombasting his way through movies like Goldfinger, The Threepenny Opera, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, The Longest Day, and Is Paris Burning?, where he appeared alongside Orson Welles. Gert 'n' Orson in the same scene: the reason CinemaScope was invented.




from "Is Paris Boring?" in MAD #113 (September 1967), script by Lou Silverstone, pencils and inks by Mort Drucker
*Although there are some pretty serious strikes against him, I believe that Fröbe was a victim to his time, location, and nationality. Wikipedia tells us that

Frobe joined the Nazi Party in 1929 at the age of 16 and left in 1937.

In September 1944, theatres in Germany were closed down and Fröbe was drafted into the German Army, where he served until the end of the war.

After his party membership became known after World War II, Israel banned Fröbe's films until, Mario Blumenau, a Jewish survivor, revealed just eight weeks later that his life and his mother's were probably saved when Fröbe hid them from the Nazis.

So, happy birthday, Gert!

TodayI in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, George Harrison!

Born on this day in 1943: Happy birthday, to singer, songwriter, and producer George Harrison! Oh yeah, in case you didn't know, he was one of them there Beatles. My favorite Beatle, in fact, moving on from an age where my favorite Beatle was first Ringo Starr, then Paul McCartney, then John Lennon, and now George. I think I have run out of Beatles to have as my favorite, unlike my fandom of The Rutles. In that case I can always move onto Leppo. He didn't know how to play an instrument, but he did know how to have a good time.


from The Beatles: Their Story in Pictures (ITV, 1982), script by Angus P. Allan, art by Arthur Ranson (collected from the strip in (Look-In)
"Sorry, girls, he's spiritual!"


from The Beatles one-shot (Dell, September 1964), pencils and inks by Joe Sinnott
Happy birthday also to this guitar! Just today it has reached the ripe old retirement age of 65, unless George lent it to Pete Townshend.


And a happy birthday, we guess, to George's mysterious childhood ailments!



Naw, just to George. Happy birthday, George!


from (top) Yellow Submarine one-shot (Gold Key, February 1969), script by Paul S. Newman, pencils by Jose Delbo; and
(bottom) The Beatles: Yellow Submarine graphic novel (Titan, August 2008); script and pencils by Bill Morrison, inks by Andrew Pepoy and Tone Rodriguez, colors by Nathan Kane, letters by Aditya Bidikar

Today in Comics History, February 25: ♬ Happy birthday, Enrico Caruso! ♬

Born on this day in 1873: the great Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso! Acclaimed at theatres across the world, he's the guy you probably think of in your head when somebody tells the Pagliacci joke. "But Doctor, I'm Enrico Caruso!"

He made Xavier Cugat (who was also a cartoonist, didja know that?) into a big music star, too! (Stay tuned for much more of this comic when we celebrate Cugat on his birthday of...holy cow, January 1?!? I'm getting artists booked into spots on this blog into the upcoming year!)



from "Xavier Cugat: The Rhumba King" in Juke Box Comics #2 (Eastern Color, May 1948), pencils and inks by Phil Berube
A rare Caruso recording serves as an action-packed MacGuffin for Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood!



from The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #6 (Marvel, June 1983), co-plot and script by David Michelinie, co-plot by Archie Goodwin, layouts by Howard Chaykin, finishes by Terry Austin, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Joe Rosen
Sono un torello impagliato e ti auguro, grande Maestro, il più felice compleanno, signor Enrico Caruso!

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1942: Same As it Ever Was, Part 73,661 of ∞

from All-Star Squadron #38 (DC, October 1984), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rick Hoberg, inks by Bill Collins and Mike DeCarlo, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by David Cody Weiss

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1991: Lt. Slim Shady stands up and debriefs his C.O.

from A-Team: War Stories: Face one-shot (IDW, April 2010), script by Chuck Dixon and Erik Burnham, pencils and inks by Alberto Muriel, colors by Gerry Kissell, letters by Neil Uyetake

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1995: Cindy is just as surprised as DC is that in February, Paris, Kentucky looks like Upper Wisconsin

from Justice League Task Force #22 (DC, April 1995); script by Christopher Priest; pencils by Sal Velluto; inks by Andrew Lepoy, Mark McKenna, and Mick Gray; colors by Dave Grafe; letters by Kevin Cunningham