Today in Comics History, March 12, 1914: What's he doing in that coffin? Westing.

Today in 1914, inventor and entrepeneur George Westinghouse died. But before he did, he managed to work in inventing the Westinghouse air brake, developed the AC current mode of electrical transmission, and a whole buncha other stuff, and I'm fairly certain he had something to do with the Westinghouse refrigerator of kids joke fame (see title).


from "George Westinghouse" in True Comics #50 (Parents' Magazine Press, July 1946), pencils (and inks?) by Sam Glankoff

Today in Comics History, March 12: Happy Birthday, Sy Barry!

Happy 96th birthday today to Seymour "Sy" Barry, comic book and comic-strip artist: he's worked on Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, All Star Western, Girls Romances, Rex the Wonder Dog, Superboy and many more...but he's best known for being the artist of The Phantom comic strip for 33+ years, which includes the entire period I read it as a wee calf in the newspaper funnies!

"Behind the Mask" from The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks (2009 series) #1 (Moonstone, March 2009), text by Ed Rhoades, pencils and inks by Sy Barry
(Click picture to Skull Cave-size)
Happy birthday, Sy, and many more!


advertisement from The Phantom (1948 series) #1207 (Frew, 1998)

Today in Comics History, March 12: Happy birthday, Ken Spears!

Born on this day in 1938: writer, animator, and producer Ken Spears, co-creator of Scooby-Doo and co-founder of Ruby-Spears Productions, both with Joe Ruby. Ruby-Spears gave us Thundarr the Barbarian, Fangface, Goldie Gold and Action Jack, The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, Rubik the Amazing Cube, Mister T, Sectaurs, Centurions, Superman (1988) and more, and hired Jack Kirby to work on their productions.


from Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics (Ten Speed, July 2020), script and art by Tom Scioli
Happy birthday, Ken!

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1918: Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more / The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score

from "red Knight!" in Two-Fisted Tales (1950 series) #29 (EC, September 1952), script by Harvey Kurtzman, pencils and inks by John Severin, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, March 12: Happy birthday, Svengoolie!

Born on this day and keeping us howling at the moon for many years: Rich Koz, aka Svengoolie, SF/horror movie historian and host of his own show (he took over from the original Svengoolie Jerry Bishop in 1978)! Svengoolie the show runs every week, Saturday nights on MeTV...check your local cable listings and tell your cable provider: I WANT MY METV! And he's a comic book fan, too!


from MAD (2018 series) #2 (August 2018)
Sven actually had his own comic book, collecting segments that ran in the May 2020 issues of DC Comics! Unfortunately, I haven't got them or the (now very pricy!) collection, but here's the front cover! He's in the Justice League now!


cover of Svengoolie Meets the DC Universe #1 one-shot (DC, 2020), pencils by Christopher Jones
You never know when Svengoolie will pop up! Can you spot him in the crowd at the Superman/Muhammad Ali fight this comic convention crowd scene lovingly drawn by Sergio Aragonés, chock full of celebrities, creators, and cosplayers...and Sven!

from Groo Meets Tarzan #1 (Dark Horse, July 2021), script by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, pencils and inks by Sergio Aragonés, colors by Tom Luth, letters by Stan Sakai
(Click top picture to Berwyn-size)
So when you see Sven today, either on the street or on his show tonight, toss a rubber chicken at him and wish him happy birthday!

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1927: Criminals are a predictable and stupid lot

from "The Baby-Face Killer" in Crime Must Pay the Penalty #33/1 (Ace, February 1948), pencils and inks by Ann Brewster

Today in Comics History, March 12: Happy birthday, Carol Jazwynski!

Born today: 1980s-era Marvel west-coast liason Carol Jazwynski! And that's about all we know about her, so if you're out there, say hi, Carol!


from Marvel Age #51 (Marvel, June 1987), text by Mike Carlin, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme
Happy birthday, Carol!

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1965: Elasti-Girl is dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the basics

from Doom Patrol (2004 series) #14 (DC, September 2005), script and pencils by John Byrne, inks by Terry Austin, colors by Alex Bleyaert, letters by Jared K. Fletcher

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1973: Winter Soldier decides to just take a "me day"

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, March 12, 1908: Orson Welles gains weight for new role

from "Speed Merchant" in Real Life Comics #9 (Pines, January 1943), pencils and inks by Will Rowland

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1941: Students are taught to critically analyze the lyrics to "In the Navy"

from James Bond: Origin #1 (Dynamite, September 2018); script by Jeff Parker; pencils, inks, and colors by Bob Q; letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1973: Bruce Wayne has beautiful handwriting

from "The Citadel of Crime" in Batman (1940 series) #249 (DC, June 1973), script by Frank Robbins, pencils by Irv Novick, inks by Dick Giordano, letters by Milt Snapinn (?)
But also see "Bruce Wayne has Terrible Handwriting." Clearly one of these Bruce Waynes is a fake.

Today in Comics History, March 12: Anti-Batman is more polite and debonair than Batman

from Millar & McNiven's Nemesis #2 (top) and #1 (bottom) (Marvel/Icon, May-June 2010), script by Mark Millar, pencils and inks by Steve McNiven, colors by Dave McCaig, letters by Chris Eliopoulos