Today in Comics History, July 24: Happy birthday, Trevor Von Eeden!

Born on this day: Trevor Von Eeden! (The extra "E" is for "Eeden!") You'll find his distinct artwork on Black Lightning, Batman, World's Finest Comics, Black Canary, the 1983 Green Arrow miniseries, Power Man and Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and much more! i first discoevred his work when he did a couple fill-in issues on Batman and the Outsiders and I fell in love with his style immediately. What I didn't know then was thet he was only 25 at that time! In fact, he was only 16 when he started at DC (great shades of Jim Shooter!) and 17 when he co-created Black Lightning with Tony Isabella! (Tony isabella has a little quibble with this billing: he prefers to be billed as "creator" and Trevor as "co-creator." Hmmm, who drew the character, without which he wouldn't be a comic book hero?) Von Eeden also created DC's Thriller with Robert Loren Fleming, and Von Eeden created the excellent Original Johnson graphic novel series.


from the letters column of Black Lightning (1977 series) #2 (DC, May 1977), by Mike Gold

Today in Comics History, July 24: Happy birthday, Ricardo Villamonte!

Born on this date: comic book penciller and inker Ricardo Villamonte ("vee-yah-MON-tay") (Doctor Strange, Weird War Tales, The Twilight Zone, Nightmare, Scream, Psycho, Crystar, Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Uncanny X-Men, and lots more)!


from Marvel Age #31 (Marvel, October 1985), text by Jim Salicrup, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Andy Yanchus
Below, Ricardo (green shirt) keeps the peace by conjuring up a football when series star Crystar (all crystal) keeps bugging him, Jo Duffy (pink shirt), and Bob Harras (orange shirt) while they work on the next issue of The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior. Can you guess it's Assistant Editors' Month?



from The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior #5 (Marvel, January 1984), script by Jo Duffy, pencils by Ricardo Villamonte, inks by Dave Simons, colors by Andy Yanchus, letters by Janice Chiang
Happy birthday, Ricardo!

Today in Comics History, July 24, 1684: You might even say he...La Salled from France

from "La Salle: The French Cavalier Who First Explored the Mississippi" in Real Heroes #1 (Parents' Magazine Press, September 1941), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, July 24, 189X: This isn't ending well, as all the captions tell you

Hey, remember July 16? It got worse.


from Marvel Classics Comics #9 [Dracula] (Marvel, 1976), script by Naunerle Farr, pencils (and inks?) by Nestor Redondo

Today in Comics History, July 24, 1986: Everett Proudhawk begins his "Psi-Hawkin' in the USA" major multi-city tour

from Psi-Force #3 (Marvel/New Universe, January 1987), script by Danny Fingeroth, pencils and inks by Mark Texeira, additional inks and colors by Marie Severin, letters by Joe Rosen and Jack Morelli

Today in Comics History, July 24: Happy birthday, Colleen Doran!

Born on this day: writer/artist Colleen Doran, one of the major figures in indie comics (and comics for the Big Two or Three) since the 1980s (A Distant Soil, Wonder Woman, Comic Book Tattoo,Morrison Hotel, Mangaman, Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Amazing Fantastic Incredible: Stan Lee, The Sandman, American Gods, Orbiter, Snow, Glass, Apples, Spider-Man and many more!)


from A Distant Soil (1996 series) #35 (Image, November 2002)

Today in Comics History, July 24, 1929: "...We think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me."

from Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula (Humanoids, September 2021), by Koren Shadmi

Today in Comics History, July 24, 1983: Beardy Reed Richards cosplayer prepares to leave San Diego Comic-Con

from "Reunion" in Semper Fi #1 (Marvel, December 1988), script by Michael P. Palladino, pencils and inks by John Severin, colors and letters by Phil Felix

Today in Comics History, July 24: Happy birthday, Lynda Carter!

theme from Wonder Woman (Warner Bros. Television, 1975), composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel
Get out your ceremonial Amazoian attire and dance around with your kanga: it's the birthday of actor, singer, songwriter, model, activist and wonderful woman Lynda Carter!


from Fifty Who Made DC Great one-shot (DC, 1985)

Today in Comics History, July 24, 1769: They got me trapped / Uh-uh, they can't keep the Black Manta down

from Black Manta #2 (DC, December 2021), script by Chuck Brown, pencils and inks by Valentine De Landro, colors by Marissa Louise, letters by Clayton Cowles
(Click picture to narwhal-size)

Today in Comics History, July 24, 1534: Chalk up win number one bajillion for the white man

from "The Story of the French in America" in All-American Comics (1939 series) #65 (DC/All-American, April 1945), script by M. C. Gaines and W. W. D. Sones, pencils and inks by Allen Simon

Today in Comics History, July 24: Norman Turalt is suspicious of the narrow panel Marvel has given him

from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #1 (Marvel, November 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Leinil Francis Yu, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, July 24: Man killed for being named "Goffrey du L'Oranche"

from "Dial P for Purr-der" in Tiger Lawyer #2 (Image, July 2012), script by Ryan Ferrier, art by Matt McCray