Today in Comics History, March 20, 1886: Wow, that's one powerful and yet slow switch

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

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1949, First Day of Spring: Hey, Vernal!

from The Spirit (Register and Tribune Syndicate, March 20, 1949), script by Will Eisner and Jules Feiffer, pencils and inks by Will Eisner, letters by Abe Kanegson

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1965: The Curious Incident of the Hounds When the UFOs Landed

from "Mystery in Michigan" in UFO Flying Saucers #1 (Western/Gold Key, October 1968), script by Leo Dorfman, pencils by Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, inks by Sal Trapani

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1994: Like ships, Frank Castle always refers to cross-channel tunnels as "her"

from "Eurohit '94" in The Punisher Annual (1988 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1994); script by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; pencils by Doug Braithwaite; inks by Al Williamson, Fred Fredericks, and Art Nichols; colors by Christie Scheele; letters by Ken Lopez

Today in Comics History, March 20, First Day of Spring: Sluggo's bustin' out all over

from Nancy (United Feature Syndicate, March 20, 1950), by Ernie Bushmiller
A special tip 'of the three rocks to Johnny Callicutt for bringing this strip to my attention. Johnny runs the absolutely essential and unofficial Nancy Comics by Ernie Bushmiller feeds on Twitter and Bluesky! Thanks, Johnny!

Today in Comics History, March 20: Happy birthday, Invisible Woman!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published March 20, 2022.

Happy birthday to Susan Storm Richards, the incredible Invisible Woman (née Girl), who couldn't even be bothered to show up at her own birthday parOH THERE YOU ARE SUE didn't see ya.


from Marvel Age #111 (Marvel, April 1992); text by Mike Lackey (#111); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme
Now, this birth date is according to the Marvel Age calendar, which is possibly uncanonical, but let's celebrate it today until we find a more definitive source that says otherwise, okay? I can't find any comics story that features her birthday, so let me know in the comments if you do!


from "A Visit with the Fantastic Four" in Fantastic Four (1961 series) #11 (Marvel, February 1963), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Happy birthday, Sue!


"The Fantastic Four Pin-Up Page" from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #10 (Marvel, January 1963), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by John Duffy

Today in Comics History, March 20: Happy birthday, Robin I (Dick Grayson, Post-Zero Hour)!

Hey Batman, what day is it?


from "A Little Nudge" in Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 one-shot (DC, May 2020), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Scott Hanna, colors by Adriano Lucas, letters by Tom Napolitano
Batman, you're a bad dad, because today's the birthday of your faithful ward, Dick Grayson, aka Robin I! But: only the post-Zero Hour hero. It's November 11 in the Pre-Crisis days and October 24-ish post-Crisis. Geez, Dick, pick one birthday and settle on it!


from the impeccably researched The DC Universe Calendar
Anyway, we're gonna celebrate today.

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1955: Comic book penciller only draws the top part of the panel, saving half of the wall painting time

from Fantastic Four (2023 series) #1/694 (Marvel, January 2023), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Iban Coello, colors by Jesus Aburtov, letters by Joe Caramagna

Today in Comics History, March 20: Happy birthday, Diana Albers!

A very happy birthday today to comics letterer Diana Albers, who's lettered hundreds of Marvel Comics from the 1970s through the 1990s, including runs on Captain America, Marvel Team-Up, Ghost Rider, Marvel Comics Presents, Savage Sword of Conan, Spectacular Spider-Man, and many more!


from Marvel Age #27, 51, and 87 (Marvel, June 1985, June 1987, and April 1990), text by Jim Salicrup (#27), Mike Carlin (#51), and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#87); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme (#27, 51, and 87); colors by Gregory Wright (#87)
Happy birthday, Diana!

Today in Comics History, March 20: Happy birthday, Abe Beame!

Born today in 1906, the real-life 104th Mayor of New York City, Abraham "Abe" Beame! he was in office when the city went virtually bankrupt! And also, as this story tells us, he had to deal with Spider-Man. Don't look to him, Abe! He hasn't got any money, either!


from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976 series) #1 (Marvel, December 1976), script by Gerry Conway, breakdowns by Sal Buscema, figure finishes by Mike Espositp, background finishes and colors by Dave Hunt, letters by Joe Rosen

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1908: If only they had been carrying Lipton® Cup-a-Soup®! Real soup on the go — You never had soup so good so fast! (This blog post brought you to you Lipton Cup-a-Soup)

from "North to the Pole" in Real Heroes #14 (Parents' Magazine Press, May 1946), creators unknown

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1919: Ant-Man fighting communists again

from Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula (Humanoids/Life Drawn, September 2021), story and art by Koren Shadm, letters by Tom Napolitano

Today in Comics History, March 20, 1992: Ozymandias refuses to spend extra for ISO-9000-compliant nerve netting

from Doomsday Clock #7 (DC, November 2018), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, March 20, 2003: The UK press publishes a intrusive, insulting, incendiary headline, for once

from The Vinyl Underground #1 (DC/Vertigo, December 2007), script by Si Spencer, pencils by Simon Gane, inks by Cameron Stewart, colors by Guy Major, letters by Jared K. Fletcher