Today in Comics History, May 9: Happy birthday, William Moulton Marston!

Born today in 1893: William Moulton Marston aka Charles Moulton, psychologist, polyamorist, developer of the modern lie detector. Oh yeah, he co-created a hero you may have heard of called Wonder Woman.


from Fifty Who Made DC Great one-shot (DC, 1985)

Today in Comics History, May 9, 1754: The secret ingredient on tonight's Iron Chef is snake

from "Scoops...Pictures to Remember!" in Real Fact Comics #6 (DC, January 1947), pencils and inks by George Roussos

Today in Comics History, May 9: Then I found out he had a heart in glass

from "Heartline" in Chamber of Chills Magazine #23 (Harvey, May 1954), pencils by Manny Stallman, inks by John Giunta, letters by Joe Rosen

Today in Comics History, May 9: Happy birthday, Barbara Slate!

Born on this day: comics writer and artist Barbara Slate, who's written, drawn, and created titles at Marvel, DC, Harvey, Archie, and Scholastic, including 2019's The Mueller Report Graphic Novel!


from Son of Yuppies from Hell one-shot (Marvel, 1990), photograph by Bert Stern

Today in Comics History, May 9, 1969: Alfred Hitchcock puts birds into cans

from Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense (NBM, March 2022), script by by Noël Simsolo, translation by Monatan Kane, art by Dominique Hé, lettering by Ortho

Today in Comics History, May 9, 1372: Good thing they got a coffin wide enough to accommodate her hair

from Batman: Killing Time #3 (DC, July 2022), script by Tom King, pencils and inks by David Marquez, colors by Alejandro Sánchez, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, May 9: Aside from that, Bruce, how did you like the comic book?

On this day, in year (mumblemumblemumble), one of the original characters from the earliest Marvel Age of Comics dies: Elizabeth "Betty" Ross Banner, wife of Bruce Banner, daughter of General "Thunderbolt" Ross, not related at all to Supreme Diana Ross but she used to have a bunch of 45s by...died.


from Incredible Hulk (1968 series) #466 (Marvel, July 1998), script by Peter David, pencils by Adam Kubert, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Steve Buccellato, letters by John Workman
This storyline led to the departure of Peter David from the title, after 12 years of scripting the jolly green giant:

When Bobbie [Chase] suggested we plug her, I said, “Sure, why not?” So I killed her off. This got Marvel all excited. See, when I’d started on the book and, over years, doubled sales on it, it caused people to suddenly start paying attention. With the death of Betty, this prompted Marvel to have a Brilliant Idea. Mourning the loss of his wife, the Hulk would now go dead silent, stop talking to anyone, and run around the Marvel universe smashing everything in sight.

When I was told the new plan, I objected. I told them it was out of character with the psychologically complex giant I’d created over the years. I said I wouldn’t write that. And the editorial higher-ups (none of whom still work for the company) said that I shouldn’t hesitate to avoid having the door hit me on the way out.

And that was that. After twelve years, I was gone.

Betty eventually came back from the dead! And Peter eventually came back to script Hulk. (What are the odds?) But what was that time and date, Marvel Comics?


from Immortal Hulk #48 (Marvel, September 2021), script by Al Ewing, pencils by Joe Bennett, inks by Ruy José and Belardino Brabo, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, May 7, 1937: Bizarre cosmic anomaly causes man's hair to go cartoonishly red

from Doc Savage (1988 series) #22 (DC, August 1990), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Rod Whigham, inks by Steve Montano, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by Bill Oakley

Today in Comics History, May 9, 1909: Happy birthday, Steve Trevor, happy birth...oh. Never mind.

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published May 9, 2017.

Hey, happy birthday, Steve Trevor, always played by Lyle Waggoner in my head!


from DC Comics: Bombshells #1 (DC, October 2015); script, pencils, inks, and colors by Marguerite Bennett; letters by Wes Abbott

Today in Comics History, May 9: Ronnie's Plastic Man cosplay is unconvincing but compelling

from "Jury Jest" in Archie's Joke Book Magazine #93 (Archie, October 1965), creators unidentified and unknown

Today in Comics History, March 9: Happy birthday, Joe Franklin!

Happy birthday today to Mr. Joe Franklin, born in 1926 and host of (naturally) The Joe Franklin Show, a long-time New York-based TV talk show that brought in the famous, the infamous, and the forgotten to relate their tales of stage and screen. He was especially prominent in several comics from Drew Freidman, from the gently parodic...




from High Times Magazine #70 (Trans-High Corporation, June 1981); script by Josh Alan Friedman; pencils, inks, and letters by Drew Friedman
...to the fantastically romantic...


from "Joe Franklin is a Dream Walkin'" in Weirdo (1981 series) #6 (Last Gasp, Summer 1982); script, pencils, inks and latters by Drew Freidman
...and the utterly bizarre.


from Heavy Metal Magazine (1977 series) v.8 #8 (Heavy Metal, November 1984); script, pencils, inks and latters by Drew Freidman
Happy birthday, Joe Franklin! You may have been local to the New York City market, but universal in our hearts.

Today in Comics History, May 9, 1897: Winona Ryder shampoos her hair. Woo hoo!

from Bram Stoker's Dracula #1 (Topps, October 1992), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Mike Mignola, inks by John Nyberg, colors by Mark Chiarello, letters by John Costanza