Today in Comics History, January 14, 1911: Famous Polar explorer frees Willy

"Pioneers of Science: Roald Amundsen, Discoverer of the South Pole" and from Classics Illustrated #76 (Gilberton, October 1950), creators uncredited and unknown

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

Today in Comics History, January 14: Happy birthday, Rudy Nebres!

Born on this day in 1937: comics inker Rudy Nebres, who's done a huge amount of absolutely gorgeous work for most of the major companies in his career: Marvel, DC, Archie, Charlton, Valiant, Warren, Continuity, Pacific, CrossGen, and more!


L: from Marvel Age #49 (Marvel, April 1987), text by Mike Carlin, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Paul Becton
R: from Marvel Age #86 (Marvel, March 1990), text by Chris Eliopoulos and Barry Dutter, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Gregory Wright
Happy birthday, Rudy!


from "Red Sonja at the Mall" in Savage Sword of Conan (1974 b/w magazine series) #23 (October 1977), photograph by Bob Pinaha

Today in Comics History, January 14: Happy birthday, John Tartaglione!

Born on this day in 1921: comics penciller and inker John Tartaglione, whose credits span Atlas Comics (Young Men, Amazing Detective Cases), DC, Charlton, Gilberton (Classics Illustrated), the Dell Movie Clasics line, Catholic comic Treasure Chest, comic strips (The Amazing Spider-Man, Apartment 3-G) and Marvel Comics including The Rawhide Kid, Sgt. Fury, Daredevil, X-Men, Dazzler, and the million-seller The Life of Pope John Paul II. (And, as we say around here, many more!)


L: from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1979
R: from Fantastic Four Annual (1963 series) #7 (November 1969)
A very happy birthday to you, John!

Today in Comics History, January 14, 1914: Comicsgaters complain they've made Colonel Heeza Liar "too woke" in this version

from Comic Book History of Animation #1 (IDW, November 2020); script by Fred Van Lente; pencils, inks, colors and letters by Ryan Dunlavey
To me, it's a curious little cartoon whose interest lies mainly in his historicalvalue rather than its art. It's remarkably repetitive in the middle and there's a gag towards the end about shooting animals at a watering hole that seems like it'd be in (comic) character for Ross Allen. (Also, this version is silent and has no musical accompaniment.)


Maybe it's just me, but I don't think Colonel Heeza Liar can hold a candle to Commander McBragg.

Today in Comics History, January 14: Happy birthday, Albert Schweitzer!

Born on this day in 1874: theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, physician and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Albert Schweitzer! Here, read more about him from the ultimate font of knowledge and wisdom: a comic book!


from Classics Illustrated #136 (Gilberton, January 1957), creators unknown
Happy birthday, Albert! Or, as Paul Simon called you, Al.


Sam's Strip (April 27, 1963), co-script and letters by Mort Walker, co-script and art by Jerry Dumas

Today in Comics History, January 14, 2009: J. Jonah Jameson is blissfully unaware the entire front page of the Daily Bugle has been turned over to recapping Spider-Man comics

recap page from Amazing Spider-Man #583 (March 2009), pencils by Barry Kitson, inks by Mark Farmer

Today in Comics History Future, January 14, 3010: Original Guardians of the Galaxy return; no one cares because they don't have a talking raccoon and a tree

from Guardians of the Galaxy (2008 series) #25 (June 2010), script by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, pencils by Brad Walker, inks by Andrew Hennessy, colors by Wil Quintana, letters by Joe Caramagna
Please note: January 14 in 3010 is a Sunday. Ya screwed it up again, Guardians.

Also on this day, one thousand years previously: look, they've all got cute new uniforms! Wow, where do you buy a jacket for a tree?

Today in Comics History, January 14: Uatu, P.I., solves another tough case

from "The Man With the Life Ray" in Detective Comics #190 (DC, December 1952), pencils and inks by Ruben Moreira
Who's the bald private dick
That's an observing machine to all the multiverse?
UATU!
Darn straight!


For more hard-hitting crime thriller action-adventures with Uatu, P.I., just click here!