Today in Comics History, October 1: Happy birthday, John Ridley!

Let's wish a very happy birthday today to John Ridley, movie screenwriter, novelist, and TV director (12 Years a Slave, Undercover Brother, Red Tails, Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The John Larroquette Show, Static Shock, Justice League, etc.) and comic book writer (The Other History of the DC Universe, I Am Batman, Black Panther, The Authority, The American Way, GCPD: The Blue Wall, Batman: One Bad Day: Penguin and more)!


from DC/Black Label Comics cover-dated January 2021
Happy birthday, John!


from batman: Black and White (2021 series) #3 (DC, April 2021)

Today in Comics History, October 1: Government shutdown cancels Fat Bears Week forever

from Yogi Bear (1977 series) #9 (Marvel, March 1979), script by Mark Evanier, pencils by Dick Bichenbach, inks by Lee Hooper, colors by Garrett Gafford

Today in Comics History, October 1: Happy birthday, Everett Sloane!

Born on this day in 1909: character actor Everett Sloane, who's been in Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Lust for Life, The Desert Fox and other movies, plus television episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, Route 66 and lots more. On radio, he was a regular player on Orson Welles's The Mercury Theatre on the Air and played on s Inner Sanctum and The Shadow (as the Shadow's personal cabbie Shrevie). He was also the voice of Dick Tracy in the problematic 1961 cartoon version of The Dick Tracy Show:


from Dick Tracy (August 12, 1990), text by Max Allan Collins, art by Dick Locher. Special thanks to pal Greg A. who posted this strip on Twitter.
Sloane also co-starred in Marlon Brando's 1950 film debut The Men, a great faorite of Harvey Pekar's:


from "Harvey Pekar's Lost and Found: The Men" in Entertainment Weekly; reprinted in American Splendor: Our Movie Year (random House, December 2004); script by Harvey Pekar; pencils, inks, and letters by Gary Dumm
Happy birthday, Everett!

Today in Comics History, October 1, 2014: 🎶 Who needs Superman?... We do. 🎶

cover of Action Comics (2011 series) #35 (DC, December 2014), pencils and inks by Aaron Kuder, colors by Wil Quintana

Today in Comics History, October 1, 2014: Moon Knight makes a pretty pathetic attempt to get on America's Funniest Home Videos

from Moon Knight (2014 series) #8 (December 2014), script by Brian Wood, pencils and inks by Greg Smallwood, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

Today in Comics History, October 1: Champion ballplayer inspires Salt-n-Pepa song

from Yogi Berra one-shot (Fawcett, 1951), script by Charles Dexter, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger


"Whatta Man" by Salt-n-Pepa feat. En Vogue (Next Plateau London, 1993); written by Cheryl James, Dave Crawford, and Hurby Azor; music video directed by Matthew Rolston

Today in Comics History, October 1, 2501: It's not often that I get to use the same panels twice within a year

from "Book Two, Chapter Three: Video" in (top) Warrior #15 (Quality Communications, November 1983), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by David Lloyd, letters by Jenny O'Connor;
(bottom) V for Vendetta #4 (DC, December 1988); colors by David Lloyd, Siobhan Dodds, and Steve Whitaker

Today in Comics History, October 1, 2097: In the future, all time will be measured by A.L.

from The Courier: From the Ashes #1 (Zenoscope, April 2017), script by Ralph Tedesco, pencils and inks by J.G. Miranda, colors by Bryan Valenza

Today in Comics History, October 1: Happy birthday, Jimmy Carter!

Born on this day: the 39th President of the United States and one of the few of 'em I respect, Jimmy Carter!


from [Uncanny] X-Men #136 (Marvel, August 1980), co-plot and script by Chris Claremont, co-lot and pencils by John Byrne, inks by Terry Austin, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Tom Orzechowski
Sorry: I actually do have dozens of Jimmy Carter panels from comics — but it's been one of those weeks. Sorry, Mr. President — full treatment next year!


from "White House Rip-Off!" in Spidey Super Stories #30 (Marvel, January 1978), pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Ray Holloway
Happy birthday, President Carter!

Today in Comics History, October 1, 1993: Andy Warhol guest-stars on The Love Boat*

from Miracleman #19 (Eclipse, November 1990), cover art by Dave McKean, script by Neil Gaiman, pencils by Mark Buckingham, inks and colors by Sam Parsons, letters by Wayne Truman
*He really did!:


from The Love Boat: "Picture from the Past" (season 9, episode 3) (Aaron Spelling Productions, October 12, 1985); guest starring Milton Berle, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Andy Griffith, and Andy Warhol as himself

Today in Comics History, October 1, 2000: Liberal media misrepresents news story, forgets to blame Obama

from Translucid #2 (Boom!, May 2014), script by Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert, pencils and inks by Daniel Bayliss, colors by Adam Metcalfe, letters by Ed Dukeshire

Today in Comics History, October 1: Mad scientist Erwin Schrödinger is at last able to teleport savory cheese inside the delicious baked crust of delivery pizza

from Scratch9 Free Comic Book Day 2013 (Hermes, May 2013), script by Rob M. Worley, pencils and inks by Joshua Buchanan, colors by Digikore Studios, letters by Rob M. Worley

Today in Comics History, October 1: The word "waugh" is invented

from The Unwritten #35.5 (DC/Vertigo, May 2012), plot by Peter Gross, script by Mike Carey, pencils and inks by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, October 1: I begin working for Prime Minister George Orwell

from The Unwritten #35.5 (DC/Vertigo, May 2012), plot by Peter Gross, script by Mike Carey, pencils and inks by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein