Today in Comics History, October 15: Happy birthday, Samm Schwartz!

Born on this day in 1920: comics artist Samm Schwartz, whose extensive work for Archie brought Jughead up from supporting character to the popular position of Archie Comics' Mr. Spock within the pages of Archie's Pal Jughead and the reluanch simply titled Judgead. Samm's the creator of "Big" Ethel Muggs and he co-created Tippy Teen for Tower Comics (later reprinted as Vicky by Atlas Seaboard)! After the closure of Tower, he worked on similar stories for DC's Date with Debbi and Debbi's Dates, which were astonishingly two concurrent different comics!


from Archie (2015 series) #8 (Archie, July 2016), essay by Mark Waid

Today in Comics History, October 15: Happy birthday, Vince Colletta!

Born on this day in 1923: Vince Colletta, longtime artist and (controversial) inker for the big comics publishers, especially Marvel and DC, where he worked over the artwork of many major artists!


from (left) Marvel Comics Memory Album Calendar 1977 (Marvel, 1976); and
(right) Marvel Age #58 (Marvel, January 1988), text by Mike Carlin, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Paul Becton

Today in Comics History, October 15: Happy birthday, Bob Fujitani!

Born on this day in 1921: comics artist and writer Bob Fujitani, who drew for Avon (Eerie Comics), Dell (Four Color, Turok, Son of Stone, King of the Royal Mounted), Western/Gold Key (Boris Karloff Thriller, Lassie, March of Comics), Harvey (Speed Comics, Green Hornet Comics), Lev Gleason (Lovers' Lane, Crime Does Not Pay, Desperado), Marvel/Atlas (Strange Tales, Two Gun Kid, Astonishing, Adventures into Weird Worlds), and more, including drawing the Rip Kirby daily and ghostwriting the Flash Gordon strip. He's the co-creator of Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom for Gold Key and Captain Truth in Cambridge House's Gold Medal Comics*!


from Super Weird Heroes Vol. 1: Outrageous But Real! (IDW/Yoe Books!, 2018), essay by Craig Yoe
*There's a couple sources that claim the artist co-creator of Captain Truth is Mac Raboy, but hey, it's Bob Fujitani's birthday, so today we ignore those.

Happy birthday, Bob!

Today in Comics History, October 15: Happy birthday, Cam Kennedy!

Born on this day: Scottish comics artist Campbell "Cam" Kennedy (2000 AD, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, The Light and Darkness War (co-creator), Star Wars: Dark Empire and Boba Fett, Batman, The Spectre, The Punisher and more)!


from The Light and Darkness War #1 (Marvel/Epic, October 1988)
Happy birthday, Cam! I'm sure Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper wish you the same!


from 2000 AD prog 460 (IPC, 8 March 1986), pencils and inks by Cam Kennedy

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1944: US troops disembark from the U.S.S. Peter Max

from "The Coast Guard Lady" in Real Fact Comics #4 (DC, September 1946), script by Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, and Bernie Breslauer

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1966: Rest in peace, Michael Albergo, Jr.

from The 'Nam #19 (Marvel, June 1988), script by Doug Murray, pencils by Wayne Vansant, inks by Geof Isherwood, colors and letters by Phil Felix

Today in Comics History, October 15, 2021: Bizarro conquers America's teenagers through Satanic backwards messages in headlines

from Earth-Prime #2: Superman and Lois (DC, June 2022), text by Adam Mallinger

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1954: Happy birthday, Jorge Sans!

from Astonishing Times #1 (Comixology/Dark Horse, 2020), script by Frank Barbiere and Arris Quinones, art by Ruairí Coleman, colors by Lauren Affe, letters by Taylor Esposito

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1992: Seven made-up words are used for the first time

detail of intro page from Digitek #3 (Marvel UK, February 1993), script by John Tomlinson and Andy Lanning

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1991: Lion, tiger, and Army officer are combined into a single deadly letter-writing machine

intro page from Digitek #1 (Marvel UK, December 1992), script by John Tomlinson and Andy Lanning

Today in Comics History, October 15: Bird Sun Beetle Scarab Ankh (aka Happy Alexandrian New Year)

from "Guardians of the Lost Library" in Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge Adventures #27 (Gladstone, July 1994); script, pencils, and inks by Don Rosa; colors by Scott Rockwell; letters by Mike Taylor

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1910: The Tankmobile develops the ability to speak

from The New Deadwardians #5 (DC/Vertigo, September 2012), script by Dan Abnett, pencils and inks by I. N. J. Culbard, colors by Patricia Mulvihill, letters by Travis Lanham

Today in Comics History, October 15, 1910: Lord Adam Savage and the Edwardian Mythbusters test the Tankmobile

from The New Deadwardians #4 (DC/Vertigo, August 2012), script by Dan Abnett, pencils and inks by I. N. J. Culbard, colors by Patricia Mulvihill, letters by Travis Lanham