Today in Comics History, July 26: Earth is embarrassed to go to the prom after it gets a big pimple

from Children of the Vault #1 (Marvel, October 2023), script by Deniz Camp, art by Luca Maresca, colors by Carlos Lopez, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, July 26: Happy birthday, Helen Mirren!

Happy birthday today to actor Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen, The Long Good Friday, Excalibur, Calendar Girls, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Mosquito Coast, Prime Suspect, The Fate of the Furious, F9, Fast X, and many other movies that don't involve racing cars.)

She sneaks into this feature celebrating her birthday by the skin of her English teeth, because she technically is in comic books:


"DC Nation" from DC Comics cover-dated May 2023
Happy birthday, Helen! Try to fit in a guest appearance in a Batman something this coming year, okay?

Today in Comics History, July 26: Happy birthday, Sandra Bullock!

Born on this day: actor Sandra Bullock, who has a pretty cool last name as far as I'm concerned. You may remember her from such films as Demolition Man, Speed, Hope Floats, Miss Congeniality, The Net, Gravity and others, but you may not remember her from M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, because she wasn't in that.

Let's take a look at Sandra Bullock in comic books, shall we?


from "You Ought to be in Pictures" in Archie's Spring Break #5 (Archie, 2000), script by Bill Golliher, pencils by Jeff Shultz, inks by Jim Amash, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
Aw man, that's not Sandra Bullock, that's just anotgher one of Archie's Generic Celebrities.

Oh well. Until I can leaf through these other comics and find an actual appearance by her, let's check in on this thinly-disguised version of Sandra Bullock.

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1918: J.R.R. Tolkien eagerly awaits for his order of bologna to arrive

from Tolkien: Lighting Up the Darkness (Ablaze, February 2024), script by Willy Duraffourg, art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, colors by Flavia Caracuzzo and Joël Odone

Today in Comics History, July 25-26, 1949: Baby named abruptly

from Larry Doby, Baseball Hero one-shot (Fawcett, 1950), script by Charles Dexter
(Happy birthday, Christina Doby!)

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1779: Marines arrive really early on Omaha Beach, just to be sure

from "Sea Assault" in Semper Fi #6 (Marvel, May 1989), script by Michael P. Palladino, pencils and inks by Sam Glanzman, colors by Harry Eisenstein, letters by Kurt Hathaway

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1941: I suppose he said "I shall return" or some such cliché like that

from General Douglas MacArthur one-shot (Fox, 1951), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1909: Tales of the Perfectly Explainable Coincidences

"True Tales of the Unexpected" from Tales of the Unexpected #96 (DC, August 1966), creator uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1976: Reed Richards can read newspapers and tell the date

from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #176 (Marvel, November 1976), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by George Pérez, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Michele Wolfman, letters by Joe Rosen

Today in Comics History, July 26: Happy birthday, Harry Candelario!

Happy happy birthday to born-on-this-day Harry Candelario, Marvel Comics production photostat operator in the '90s and comic book inker (New Mutants, X-Force, Excalibur, Cable, The Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and more)!


from Marvel Age #31, 55, and 91 (Marvel, October 1985, October 1987, and August 1990); text by Jim Salicrup (#31), Mike Carlin (#55) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#91); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Andy Yanchus (#31), Paul Becton (#54) and Renee Witterstaetter (#91)

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1968: That man is outstanding in his field

from "The Village War" in Semper Fi #2 (Marvel, January 1989), script by Michael P. Palladino, pencils by Andy Kubert, inks by John Severin, colors by Steve Mellor

Today in Comics History, July 26: Happy birthday, Penguin!

Born on this day, according to the 1976 Super DC Calendar: Oswald Cobblepot, that delightful little man we call The Penguin!


from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda
Happy birthday, Pengy!



from Batman Sunday comic strip (February 17, 1946), script by Alvin Schwartz, pencils by Jack Burnley

Today in Comics History, July 26: Archie writes the word "sugar" 75,000 times

from Riverdale One-Shot (Archie, April 2017), script by Brian E. Patterson, pencils and inks by Elliot Fernandez, colors by Thomas Chu, letters by John Workman

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1944: It's Raining Men

from Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland graphic novel (DC/Vertigo, November 2012); script by Bill Willingham; layouts and pencils by Jim Fern; pencils by Craig Hamilton; inks by Craig Hamilton, Ray Snyder, Mark Farmer and Jim Fern; colors by Lee Loughridge; letters by Todd Klein

Hallelujah!

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1985: Mystère de Grand Saint Anne (Traditional); Swamp Thing refuses to go skinny dipping

from Swamp Thing (1982 series) #41 (DC, October 1985), script by Alan Moore, pencils by Stephen R. Bissette, inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Tatjana Wood, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, July 26: The killer plants slowly strangle Betty while Bert pushes her into their clutches

from "The Wild One" in Young Lovers #17 (Charlton, December 1956), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, July 26: The day before Daniel is trained to ask "Would you like fries with that?"

from The Unwritten #35.5 (DC/Vertigo, May 2012), plot by Peter Gross, script by Mike Carey, pencils and inks by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein