Today in Comic Book History, May 24, 1978: People ask me why I live in New York City...

...because where else but New York City could you get famous local talk show host Joe Franklin's autograph...on a paintbrush?


from High Times Magazine #70 (Trans-High Corporation, June 1981); script by Josh Alan Friedman; pencils, inks, and letters by Drew Friedman
Or, in the words lyrics of America's troubadors, Sam and Max:



from "Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple" in Sam & Max, Freelance Police Special Edition #1 one-shot (Fishwrap, 1987); script, pencils, and inks by Steve Purcell, letters by L. Lois BuhalisX
Or, expressed as a four-lettered word: I♥NY.

Today in Comics History, March 9: Happy birthday, Joe Franklin!

Happy birthday today to Mr. Joe Franklin, born in 1926 and host of (naturally) The Joe Franklin Show, a long-time New York-based TV talk show that brought in the famous, the infamous, and the forgotten to relate their tales of stage and screen. He was especially prominent in several comics from Drew Freidman, from the gently parodic...




from High Times Magazine #70 (Trans-High Corporation, June 1981); script by Josh Alan Friedman; pencils, inks, and letters by Drew Friedman
...to the fantastically romantic...


from "Joe Franklin is a Dream Walkin'" in Weirdo (1981 series) #6 (Last Gasp, Summer 1982); script, pencils, inks and latters by Drew Freidman
...and the utterly bizarre.


from Heavy Metal Magazine (1977 series) v.8 #8 (Heavy Metal, November 1984); script, pencils, inks and latters by Drew Freidman
Happy birthday, Joe Franklin! You may have been local to the New York City market, but universal in our hearts.