Today in Comics History, June 7, 1916: Lord Kitchener cleverly escapes being in WWI

from Tolkien: Lighting Up the Darkness (Ablaze, February 2024), script by Willy Duraffourg, art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, colors by Flavia Caracuzzo and Joël Odone
(Actually, he died on June 5, but for the sake of this feature, this newspaper is thoughtlessly two days behind.)

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Karl Urban!

Celebrate his birth today in both settings rural and urban: It's the birthday of actor Karl Urban, out of The Bourne Surpemacy, Pete's Dragon, Doom, Thor: Ragnarok, The Lord of the Rings, Xena: Warrior Princess and many more, including (or course), roles of...Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the Kelvinverse Star Trek films!:


photo covers featuring Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy on Star Trek (2011 series) #42 and 50 (IDW, February and October 2015)
...as William "Billy" Butcher in The Boys...


cover of The Boys Omnibus v.2 (Dynamite, June 2019)
...and as cinema's only Judge Dredd in the cult favorite movie Dredd:


from "Thrill-Power Overload: 40th Anniversary Update! Judgement Time" in Judge Dredd Megazine #379 (Rebellion, 17 January 2017), text by Karl Stock
Happy birthday, Karl Urban! And your less important twin, Karl Suburban.

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1952: Advice to women: dump this loser

From yesterday, the Diary of Horror continues!


from Diary of Horror #1 (Avon, December 1952), writer unknown, pencils and inks by Alvin Hollingsworth
Why not check out what happens next by reading this here tomorrow? What are ya, chicken? buck buck buck buck

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1980: Alec Holland's vacation to the Alps is rudely interrupted

from "Dig the Plant, Man!" in Secrets of Haunted House #43 (DC, December 1981), plot and pencils by Rodin Rodriguez, script by Robin Snyder, inks by Andy Mushynsky, colors by Jerry Serpe, letters by Pierre Bernard Jr.
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 7, 1944: E-Day

Hey, remember that Army grunt yesterday who complained all the way through D-Day (So gauche! All those clashing colors!) and just kept wishing on his fairy godmother (who was down on the beaches mowing down Ratzis with a machine gun) that the day would just be over? Sure you remember...you're a conscientious reader of Comics Oughta Be Fun and you don't forget nuthin'!


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
Welllllllllll...


Huh. Well, maybe Thursday will be better.

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 7, 3:00 AM: Kid Flash arrives too late to save a drowning Cyborg

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 7: Happy birthday, Tom Jones!

On this date in 1940, international star and singer Sir Tom Jones was born! It's not unusual...to celebrate his birthday!

Hey wait! That's not the Tom Jones I meant!


Wheaties ad from DC Comics cover-dated March 1946

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1940: RAF banter reaches intolerable levels

from "The First Ace of WWII" in Real Heroes #2 (Parents' Magazine Press, December 1941), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Rick Hoberg!

Born on this day: Rick Hoberg, comics artist (The Strangers, All-Star Squadron, Batman, Eternity Smith, Green Arrow, Star Wars, New Gods, Roger Rabbit, Power Girl, What If?, and more!) and animator (Godzilla, Super Friends, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Justice League, X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and yes, more here too)!


from The Strangers #7 (Malibu, December 1993), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Rick Hoberg
Happy birthday, Rick!


from All-Star Squadron #32 (DC, April 1984)

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1805: The hills are alive, and it's pretty frightening

from Manifest Destiny #42 (Image, March 2020), script by Chris Dingess, pencils and inks by Matthew Roberts, colors by Owen Gieni, letters by Pat Brosseau

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Graham Ingels!

Born on this day in 1915: "Ghastly" Graham Ingels, magazine and comics illustrator, best known for his macabre work on the EC Comics horror books like The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror!


from Haunt of Fear #10 (EC, November 1951), text by Al Feldstein

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1917: Snoopy's story takes a very dark turn

from "Collishaw" in Real Life Comics #7 (Pines, September 1942), pencils and inks by Will Rowland

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Larry Hama!

Let's all say happy birthday today to comic-book writer, artist, actor, and musician Larry Hama! He co-created Bucky O'Hare, the Nth Man, Obnoxio the Clown, Lady Deathstrike, Colleen Wing and more, and his writing credits are vast: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and assorted spinoffs and continuations, Wolverine, Elektra, Kitty Pryde, Iron Fist, lots of Venom miniseries, Mort the Dead Teenager, Generation X, and much, much more!


from Marvel Age #30, 54, and 90 (Marvel, September 1985, September 1987, and July 1990); text by Jim Salicrup (#30), Mike Carlin (#54) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#90); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Andy Yanchus (#30), Paul Becton (#54) and Renee Witterstaetter (#90) Look, it's Larry! (And some guy named Roy. I dunno, s'posed to be good for you.)


cover of Marvel Age #93 (Marvel, October 1990), pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Tom Palmer

Today in Comics History, June 7: Big-ass tomato hits mountain

from "Once More Unto the Breach" in Action Comics Weekly #619 (DC, September 27, 1988), script by Martin Pasko, pencils by Frank Springer, inks by Frank McLaughlin, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Albert DeGuzman

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1865: Origin of that fire on the map from Bonanza

from "Peril Stalks Man's Quest of Gold" in Real Life Comics #7 (Pines, September 1942), script by Richard Hughes, pencils and inks by Henry Kiefer

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1957: I'm happy for you, Bucky, or sorry that happened, but I ain't reading all that

from Captain America (2005 series) #11 (Marvel, November 2005), script by Ed Brubaker, pencils and inks by Steve Epting, additional inks by Mike Perkins, colors by Frank D'Armata, letters by Randolph Gentile

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Dean Martin!

Born today in 1917: Singer, actor, comedian and comic book star Dean Martin! Let's all raise a glass of something alcoholic to toast ol' Dino and celebrate his appears in the comics!


house ad from DC comics dated October 1953

Today in Comics History, June 7: Cartoon violence made even more cartoonish by cartoon physics

"The Bungle Family: Bounced" in Big Shot Comics #4 (Columbia, August 1940), by H. J. Tuthill

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1892: I'd play pro baseball if this could be my position

from "Bob Feller's Baseball 'Firsts'" in Baseball Thrills #3 (Ziff-Davis, Summer 1952), pencils and inks by Wally Littman

Today in Comics History, June 7: Lurking on the ceiling, Spider-Man overhears criminal plan

from "Corpse for Hire" in Police Line-Up #2 (Avon, December 1951), creators uncredited and unknown