Showing posts with label March 21. Show all posts
Showing posts with label March 21. Show all posts

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Today in Comics History, March 21: Happy birthday, Jeff Lemire!

Born on this day: comic book writer and artist Jeff Lemire (creator of Sweet Tooth, Trillium, The Nobody, and Essex County Trilogy, and writer on All-New Hawkeye, Extraordinary X-Men, Moon Knight, Old Man Logan, Superboy, Animal Man, Justice League Dark, Green Arrow, Black Hammer, Bloodshot Reborn and more)!


"On the Ledge" from DC/Vertigo comics cover-dated November 2009

Jeff's at the extreme right of this double-page spread of a Comic-Con without hardly nobody in the aisles? What's up with that?

from Faith (2016 series) #3 (Valiant, September 2016), script by Jody Houser, pencils and inks by Pere Pérez, colors by Andrew Dalhouse, letters by Dave Sharpe
(Click picture to conventio-size)

Happy happy birthday, Jeff!


from Teen Titans, Earth One v.1 (DC, January 2015)

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1918: Today's date is drowned out by the title

...so look for the red oval to point you in the right direction of the proper reference...


from "July 15, 1918" in Battlefield Action #21 (Charlton, October 1958), script by Joe Gill (?), pencils and inks by Sam Glanzman, letters by Jon D'Agostino

...and see you again here on July 15!

Today in Comics History, March 21: Happy birthday, Al Williamson!

Born on this day in 1931: Al Williamson, comics artist on the Flash Gordon and Secret Agent X-9 strips, EC's Valor, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, Warren's Creepy and Eerie, the Star Wars comic strip and book, and the proverbial many, many more!


text page from Crime SuspenStories (1950 series) #17 (EC, June 1953)




Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Today in Comics History, March 21, First Day of Spring: And this is why Aunt Fritzi is a hardcore anti-global warning conspiracist


from Nancy (United Feature Syndicate, March 21, 1947), 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!

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Monday, March 21, 2022

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1967: Headline writer goes bat-crap insane


from "Thunderbolt's Secret Weapon" in House of Mystery #170 (DC, October 1967), script by Dave Wood, pencils and inks by Jim Mooney

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Today in Comics History, March 21: Happy birthday, Johann Sebastian Bach!

Born on this day (Old Style dating; New Style would be March 31) in 1685: composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach!


from "Historical Almanac" in Real Fact Comics #20 (DC, May-June 1949), creators uncredited

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1983: BullQuest

I've been behind several months on reading my digital new comics (that darn iPad touchscreen doesn't work so well with hooves). It came out last year, but I only recently read and very much enjoyed the new Swordquest miniseries, continuing the tale of those classic early-80s Atari 2600 8-bit cartridges — and yes, I had Earthworld and Fireworld to play on my Sears Video Arcade with real simulated wood panelling! Even more than those original classic games, I loved the set of DC minicomics included with art by George freakin' Pérez. My little brain full of oatmeal and pins is properly blown.

The new Swordquest comics are written by Chad Bowers and my good pal Chris Sims, creators of X-Men '92, so I knew this was gonna be good, too. Also: another good pal, Josh Krach, did the lettering! Lettering: without it comics themselves would be nearly impossible!

What I didn't expect was that Chad 'n' Chris would so thoughtfully place a Today in Comics History in the first issue for me to use! I know they did this specifically thinkin' of me. Thanks, guys!


from Swordquest (2017 series) #0 (Dynamite, May 2017 and hey, Dynamite, why you not put publication month on your comic books? it bugs me that you don't); script by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims; pencils, inks, and colors by Ghostwriter X (Scott Kowalchuk); color flats by Karl Fan; letters by Josh Krach

Yay! Thank you, C&C Comics Factory! And imagine my surprise when I got to issue #2 only to find that these guys had actually guest-starred me, your favorite little stuffed bull, in a few glorious panels drawn by Ghostwriter X who I think is the leader of the New Mutants now. here's let me show you the page and see if you can spot me, Bully the Little Stuffed Bull, in the panels below!


from Swordquest (2017 series) #2 (Dyanmite, August 2017); script by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims; pencils, inks, and colors by Ghostwriter X (Scott Kowalchuk); color flats by Karl Fan; letters by Josh Krach

I...I am honestly touched, guys, that it's such an accurate and faithful portrayal of me.

In all seriousness, I do heartily recommend Swordquest, which cleverly mixes the mythology inside the original games and comics with the real-life drama of Atari's creation and marketing of the cartridges. Bully says DON'T ASK: JUST BUY IT! Well, actually, you should ask, nicely, at your local comics store, where you can buy the Swordquest collected trade and probably back issues of the series. If, like me, you're into e-literature, check here on Comixology for the trade "paperback" and individual issues.

No, really: it's me. So lovely.


Today in Comics History, March 21, 1942: Super Soldier wins WWII and hey, wait a minute, why isn't that guy named Jimmy Jones or Rick Olsen?


from Super Soldier #1 (DC/Amalgam Comics, April 1996), co-plot and script by Mark Waid, co-lot, pencils, inks, and letters by Dave Gibbons; colors by Angus McKie

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1988: The White Event causes calculus to become startlingly erotic


from The Draft one-shot (Marvel/New Universe, July 1988), script by Mark Gruenwald and Fabian Nicieza; pencils by Herb Trimpe; inks by Kyle Baker, Mike Gustovich, Klaus Janson, Lee Weeks, and Keith Williams; colors by Michael Higgins; letters by Jim Novak

Today in Comics History, March 21: Happy birthday to Timothy Dalton, cinema's only James Bond!


from Licence to Kill one-shot (Eclipse, 1989); script by Richard Ashford; breakdowns by Mike Grell; finishes by Chuck Austen, Tom Yeates, and Stan Woch; colors by Sam Parsons, Sally Parsons, Mel Johnson, and Reuben Rude; letters by Wayne Truman;
and from Angel Love #1 (DC, August 1986); script and pencils by Barbara Slate, inks by John William Lopez, colors by Bob LeRose, letters by Bill Yoshida

Monday, March 21, 2016

Today in Comics History, March 21, 2015: Janitor knocks over trash can, describes it as "kicking ass"


from Scarlett Couture #1 (Titan, April 2015); script, pencils, and inks by Dez Taylor

Hey, those map co-ordinates? That's actually pretty close to my house in Brooklyn! But I gotta tell ya, I didn't hear a sound that night.


Friday, March 21, 2014

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1985: Batman forgives Robin for overstarching his cape


from "Day of Doom" in Batman #385 (DC, July 1985), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Rick Hoberg and Chuck Patton, inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Constanza

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1985: The red skies of Crisis on Infinite Earths make Batman swear irritably


from "The First Day of Spring" in Detective Comics #551 (DC, June 1985), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bob Smith, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Workman

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1985: Batman vows that no more Robins will die (this week)


from "The First Day of Spring" in Detective Comics #551 (DC, June 1985), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bob Smith, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Workman

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1985: Vicky Vale's pin-up calendar is not as racy as her fans had hoped


from "The First Day of Spring" in Detective Comics #551 (DC, June 1985), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bob Smith, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Workman

It's this panel that shows that all the other panels in this storyline (Batman #384-385, Detective Comics 551) take place in 1985.

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1985: Batman makes a typo when marking down the first day of Robin's diet


from "Broken Dates" in Batman #384 (DC, June 1985), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Rick Hoberg, inks by Rudy Nebres, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Workman

Today in Comics History, March 21: Calendar Man checks his oddly specialized custom Moleskine


from "Shadow Play" in Batman #348 (DC, June 1982), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Klaus Janson, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1940: Happy birthday, Rorschach!

Let's all wish a happy birthday today to comics' favoritist crimefighter, if you're reading them wrong: a guy in a rubber mask! Happy birthday, Rorschach!


from "Walter J. Kovacs Police Report" backup in Watchmen #6 (DC, February 1987), script by Alan Moore, illustrations penciled and inked by Dave Gibbons

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Today in Comics History, March 21, 2033: The Emo League of Supermans


from The Kingdom #1 (DC, February 1999), script by Mark Waid, pencils and inks by Ariel Olivetti, colors by John Kalisz, color separations by Chris Chuckry, letters by Phil Felix