Today in Comics History, March 31: Happy birthday, Richard Chamberlain!

Born today: actor Richard Chamberlain (Dr. Kildare, Shōgun, The Thorn Birds, The Bourne Identity, The Three Musketeers, The Swarm and more)! Chamberlain has also performed classical stage roles and worked in m)! Seen here in the middle of a triptych of heartthrobs (with Elvis Presley and Tony Curtis)!


from "Midnight Cinderella!" in Girls' Love Stories #109 (DC/Arleigh, February 1965), script by Robert Kanigher, pencils and inks by Bob Oksner

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Dean Martin!

Born today in 1917: Singer, actor, comedian and comic book star Dean Martin! Let's all raise a glass of something alcoholic to toast ol' Dino and celebrate his appears in the comics!


house ad from DC comics dated October 1953

Today in Comics History, June 3: Happy birthday, Tony Curtis!

Born on this day in 1925: screen and television actor Tony Curtis!!

Now, if'n you're a fan of Tony Curtis (and who ain't?), you can save your money and send away for his photo from comic book ads…



from DC Comics cover-dated September 1957 and September 1958
...or: do what I do! And clip his picture out of the comic books, perhaps decreasing the value of your comics, but certainly increasing the Tony Curtis Quotient of your walls!

(romantic sigh as I gaze at Tony)


cover of Thrilling Romances #24 (Pines, January 1954)

Today in Comics History, January 6: Happy birthday, Danny Thomas!

Born on this very day in 1912: pioneering actor, singer, philanthropist and nightclub comedian: Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz! That's Danny Thomas to you and me!


from Movie Love #19 (Eastern Color, December 1952), pencils and inks by Frank Fogarty

A Month of... Celebrities in Comics, Day 2: You're rocking up the wrong tree there, April

Hollywood starlet wanna-be April O'Day dreams of next-level love achievements Elvis Presley, Richard Chamberlain, and Tony Curtis!


Panel from "Midnight Cinderella" in Girls' Love Stories #109 (DC/National, February 1965), script by Robert Kanigher, pencils and inks by Bob Oksner
But the wah-wah-wahhhhhh reality of it all? When she goes to work she runs into Lorne Greene and Dan Blocker from TV's Bonanza.


Later, of course, as April's star rises, engulfing Hollywood in flames and burning it to the ground, she actually encounters major silver screen hearthrobs like Ernest Borgnine (be still, my beating heart!) and Rock Hudson (oooh, wouldn't he be a catch for any girl?!). I'm not certain who the guy in the middle with the surfboard is, nor why she is actually dating Jimmy Olsen.


It's rumored that April O'Day slightly changed her name and became Angel O'Day of the famous detective agency O'Day and Simeon. Motto: "We'll go ape to solve your crime!" The truth is, she later became Emma Stone.

Obsessive much?

Page from "Fight for the One You Love" in Girls' Love Stories #125 (February 1967), pencils and inks by Jerry Grandenetti

Comics Within Comics Month, Day 26: Love is like oxygen an onion

...because no matter how many layers you peel away, there's still more underneath! I shall demonstrate in this entry of Comics Within Comics that is too big for you to handle at noon, so here it is at nighttime when you can savor it fully. (Also, I didn't have it written at noon.)


Panels from "Down with Romance" in Heart Throbs #100 (February-March 1966), pencils by Don Heck
Hotchy motchy! That's a whole lotta DC romances photostatted into that rack in the second panel. Let me see if I can ID 'em all, which may take my mind off the sight of Dr. Don Blake browsing medical magazines at the newsstand.