Today in Comics History, June 6, 1970: NASA astronaut mistakes tree for moon

from "Who Is Murdering Our Astronauts?" in UFO Flying Saucers #3 (Western/Gold Key, November 1972), pencils and inks by Luis Dominguez

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1966: Happy birthday, Walt Graves! Hope you survive the...oh.

from "Waking Walter" in Quick Stops #2 (Dark Horse, December 2022), script by Kevin Smith, pencils by Phil Hester, inks by Ande Parks, letters by Andrew Thomas

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1944: A cartoon beagle honors the veterans of WWII more sincerely than the current President of the United States

Peanuts (June 6, 1993; United Feature Syndicate), by Charles Schulz

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1952: "Peter de Diable? Of the Narragansett de Diables?"

Remember yesterday when all was happiness and light and it seemed as if there was not a care in the world, and then I made you read the June 5 section of Diary of Horror? Oh yeah, you rememjber that.

Well, guess what I have for you tonight.


from Diary of Horror #1 (Avon, December 1952), writer unknown, pencils and inks by Alvin Hollingsworth
Tomorrow: What, more? Yes, more.

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1944: D-Day: Back then when they knew how to treat Nazis

from "Tough 'Ombres...Battle Story of the 90th Infantry Division!" in Our Army at War #73 (DC/National, August 1958), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1:40 PM: First Rock Group on the Moon

from Tintin v.14: Explorers on the Moon (Little Brown, September 1976), script, pencils, and inks by Hergé; translation by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner

Today in Comics History, June 6: Happy birthday, Jason Isaacs!

Wish a happh birthday today to actor Jason Isaacs from The Patriot, Black Hawk Down, Hotel Mumbai, The Death of Stalin, Brotherhood, Event Horizon and many more! Including, you betcha, the role of sleek baddie Lucius Malfoy (boo!) in the Harry Potter films based on the novels of J.K. Rowling (even louder boo!):


from "Harry Plodder and the Lamest of Sequels" in MAD #424 (December 2002), script by Desmond Devlin, pencils and inks by Tom Richmond
He was also, of course, Captain Gabriel Lorca on the first season of Star Trek: Discovery! That's him at the bottom. He never got to be a large figure on a cover because, like in Harry Potter, he was a baddie from an evil universe. Geez, Jason, and you wonder why children and little stuffed bulls shriek and run away from you? I added the red circle so you can spot more quickly who he is (and run away from him quickly, like tribbles and little stuffed space bulls.


cover of Star Trek: Discovery Annual 2018 (IDW, March 2018), pencils and inks by George Caltsoudas
Still, Jason Isaacs can't be all bad! Here he is at least pretending to like MAD magazine!


from the letter column of MAD #460 (December 2005), submitted by Ross Feinburg
Happy birthday, Mr. Jason Isaacs please don't hurt me.

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1944, D -Day: Hey, remember that film The Longest Day? Boy, they weren't kidding.

No no, not The Longest Yard. That's a football film in prison with Burt Reynolds (or, on Earth-C, Bird Reynolds) and Eddie Albert. This one is about D-Day and the Normandy Invasion and how tough it was. Sure, the Army may get more done before nine AM than you or me, but they have to work the rest of the day too, with probably very few coffee breaks.




from "Every Day Is D-Day!" in All-American Men at War (1952 series) #74 (DC/National, October 1959), script by Hank Chapman, pencils and inks by Jack Abel
Well, finally June 6th is over and done with, and I expect this disgruntled grunt will be a lot happier when the new day rolls around, right?...DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!

Tune in tomorrow, day-counters!

This post was suggested by faithful reader and frequent commenter Blam, who's provided a lot of date references in comics that I'll spotlight throughout 2023 in this series. Thanks, Blam!

Today in Comics History, June 3, 1:04 AM: Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

(Previously on Tintin: Destination Moon)

And now....


from Tintin v.13: Destination Moon (Little Brown, September 1976), script, pencils, and inks by Hergé; translation by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner
Only thirty short minutes to launch! Why, that's just enough time to watch an episode of Red Dwarf!

Today in Comics History, June 7, 2:59 AM: Where there's smoke, there's plenty of YR coloring

from "Spread Your Broken Wings and Learn to Fly" in Action Comics Weekly #603 (DC, June 7, 1988), script by Martin Pasko, pencils and inks by Dan Spiegle, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Carrie Spiegle

Today in Comics History, June 6: Superboy totally missed last night's A&E Biography of Bret "Hitman" Hart

from Superman (2018 series) #10 (June 2019), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Brandon Peterson, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Josh Reed

Today in Comics History, June 6: Nancy still keeps receipts

Nancy (United Feature Syndicates, July 13, 2021), by Olivia Jaimes
Have some déjà vu from March 30? Then see y'all back here for this strip once again on August 21!

Today in Comics History, June 6, 2021: A Great Metropolitan Newspaper, A Lousy Amateur Masthead

from Infinite Frontier #3 (DC, September 2021), script by Joshua Williamson; pencils and inks by Paul Pelletier and Norm Rapmund, Jesús Merino and Raúl Fernández, Tom Derenick, and/or Xermanico, colors by Rómulo Fajardo Jr., letters by Tom Napolitano

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1962: The Beatles: The Crossing

Today in 1962: The Beatles’ first recording session at EMI Studios in St. John's Wood, London. Fourteen years later, the studio will oficially change its name to the title we now know 'n' love, love love it do: Abbey Road Studios.


from Beatles with an A: Birth of a Band (Fanfare, July 2014), script and art by Mauri Kunnas
From 7-10 PM, The Beatles rehearsed and then recorded a few little songs you may have heard of, including "Love Me Do," "P.S. I Love You," and "Ask Me Why." Not bad for your first try, lads!


from The Beatles in Comics! (NBM, November 2018); script by Richard Di Martino; translation by Joe Johnson; pencils, inks, and colors by Romuald Gleyze; letters by Ortho
They first meet producer George Martin, who will become such an important figure in their professional lives:


from The Beatles: Their Story in Pictures (ITV, 1982), script by Angus P. Allan, art by Arthur Ranson (collected from the strip in (Look-In)
The best of the Beatles was still to come.

But for drummer Pete Best, his involvement with the band was drawing to a close.

Today in Comic Book History, June 6, 2019: Superman is missing? Why isn't Clark Kent reporting on this?

from Doomsday Clock #8 (DC February 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh
Oh no! OH NO! COW MASSACRE! COW MASSACR(reads more closely) Oh, okay.


Also today! Superman fights for his right to party!


Just enother exciting day in the life of Kal-El, then.

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1924: Commissioner Gordon gets sheepskin; sheep is furious

from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda
Well, accordin' to the ol' clock on the wall Super DC Calendar '76, today's the day James Gordon (that's Commissioner Gordon to those of you on this side of the blinking red hotline phone) got his law degree, and excuse me if I'm a little bit skeptical. I mean, you assign those dates at random, SupeCal, but do they really have a basis in canon? Has this date even ever appeared previously in a comic book?


from "The Private Life of Commissioner Gordon" in World's Finest Comics #53 (DC, August 1951), script by David Vern, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris
Oh! Huh! Well, whaddaya know.

Happy law school graduation anniversary to you, Commissioner Gordon, the finest 122-year-old detective on the force!

Today in Comics History, June 6: Happy birthday, Ring Lardner!

Born today in 1885: prolific and acclaimed author Ring Lardner [Sr.], sports writer, journalist, satirist and author of dozens of books including You Know Me Al: A Busher’s Letters, Gullible's Travels, Etc., The Big Town, June Moon, Young Immigrunts, Regular Fellows I Have Met, and The Lardner of the Rings. I made up that last one to see if you were paying attention, because Ring doesn't get a lot of play in the comics books. i guess he isn't popular today among the kids. Or is it the children who are wrong?


"The Purple Prose of Springfield" from Simpsons Comics #9 (Bongo, March 1995), script by Andrew Gottlieb, pencils by Luis Escobar, inks by Tim Bavington, colors by Electric Crayon, letters by Richard Starkings
Happy birthday, Pop Ring! Tune in again on August 19 to see if I can find any comic book references to his song, Ring Lardner, Jr.!

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1936: Indiana Jones enters Tibet, declares entire country should be in a museum

credits page of Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods #1 (Dark Horse, June 2008), pencils by Steve Scott, inks by Nathan Massengill, colors by Michael Atiyeh

Today in Comics History, June 6: Happy birthday, Jerry Dumas!

Born on this day in 1930: cartoonist Jerry Dumas, frequent collaborator with Mort Walker and co-creator with him of the syndicated cartoon Sam's Strip. Dumas also wrote and drew political cartoons and illustrations for magazines and newspapers nationally. (Jerry's at the drawing board below!)


from Sam's Strip (Fantagraphics, January 2008), script by Mort Walker, pencils and inks by Jerry Dumas

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1936: Lucky Luciano plussed, too

from "Lucky Luciano" in Sensational Police Cases #2 (Avon, March 1954), creators uncredited and unknown