Today in Comics History, July 13: Happy birthday, Joe Gill!

Born on this day in 1919: prolific comic book scripter and magazine writer (and occasional colorist!) Joe Gill, who at Charlton co-created Captain Atom, Peacemaker, Judomaster, Doomsday + 1, Zaza the Mystic (and many more)! Series he's written include Captain America Comics, Kid Colt Outlaw, The Secret Six, Hot Wheels, Ghostly Tales, Fightin' Army, Six-Gun Heroes, The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves and others, including many collaborations with Steve Ditko! And, as it looks like from this, Popeye.


from Popeye (1972 series) #E-14 [Popeye and Fine Arts and Humanities Careers] (King Features, 1973), script by Joe Gill, pencils by Paul Fung Jr.
Happy birthday, Joe! And tell that bum workmaster Popeye that all genders enjoy funny comics, love comics, war comics and superhero comics. What's not to like...they're comics, and they oughta be fun!

Today in Comics History, October 5: Happy 100th birthday, Bil Keane!

Born on this day in 1922: cartoonist and creator of The Family Circus: Bil Keane!

I don't have any appearances of him inside comic books, but happy birthday anyway, Bil!


from Popeye (1948 series) #48 (Dell, April 1959); script, pencils, and inks by Bud Sagendorf

Comics Do Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Act 12: It isk the eask, ansk Juliet isk the sunsk

from Popeye (1972 series) #E-14 [Popeye and Fine Arts and Humanities Degrees] (King Features, 1973), script by Joe Gill, pencils and inks by Paul Fung Jr.

Today in Comics History, April 20: Popeye Explains It All for You

Today in Comics History, January 19: Happy birthday, Minnesota Fats!

Born on this day with the six-ball in the side pocket: Rudolf Wanderone, who you probably and I definitely know better as professional billards player Minnesota Fats! Now, I didn't expect to find many, if any, appearances of "Fats" in comic books when I started researching, but lo and behold, to my surprise, and other blog-writin' cliché-ridden phrases, here he is in a 1990s issue of...wouldja believe...Captain America?



from Captain America #401 (Marvel, June 1992), script by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Rik Levins, inks by Danny Bulanadi, colors by Christie Scheele and Gina Going, letters by Joe Rosen
Yes, that's Clint "Hawkeye" Barton (pretty much indistguishable from Steve Rogers in civilian garb) actually hustling the Hustler at billards. Way to ruin it for the rest of us, Hawkguy! But then again, with Minnesota Fats appearing here only a couple of years before he died, this is a pretty unusual dive bar. Other patrons include Popeye the Sailor Man:


...Emma Steed and John Peel with Humphrey Bogart...


...The Yellow Kid (?) and Elvis (!)...


...Gomez and Morticia Addams (and Lurch) with Groucho Marx?!?


...Dick Tracy, Reid Fleming (The World's Toughest Milkman), and James Bond and Breathless Mahoney? (No, I'm not sure about those last two, but your guess is as good as mine.)


That's...some company you're keeping, Mr. Fats! But happy birthday anyhow!

Today in Comics History, Saturday the 20th: Popeye's pappy and chile stay in the water so long their forearms swell up

Poopdeck Pappy and Swee'Pea take a bath every Saturday the 20th, whether they need it or not.


cover of Classic Popeye #13 (August 2013), pencils and inks by Bud Sagendorf; reprinted from Popeye #13 (Dell, June 1950), of which I can't find a good cover scan that isn't all written over
Golly, I wonder if I can get my bathtime frequency down to that!

Flashback Friday: Olive, You're a Fine Girl

Filling up Fridays: Fine Flashback Fosts Posts, re-presenting some of my favorite Comics Oughta Be Fun! entries that you might not have seen, or would enjoy seeing again, or maybe you're just going to go out to the pub tonight so you won't have to worry about it, see if I care...anyway, re-presenting a Bully classic originally published on March 17, 2008! (I was six then.)


There's a port on a western bay


And it serves a hundred ships a day


Lonely sailors pass the time away


And talk about their homes


And there's a girl in this harbor town


And she works layin' whiskey down


They say "Brandy, fetch another round"


She serves them whiskey and wine


The sailors say "Brandy, you're a fine girl," (You're a fine girl)


"What a good wife you would be," (Such a fine girl)


"Yeah, your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea."


(Dooda-dit-dooda, dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)


Brandy wears a braided chain


Made of finest silver from the North of Spain


A locket that bears the name


Of the man that Brandy loves


He came on a summer's day


Bringin' gifts from far away


But he made it clear he couldn't stay


No harbor was his home


The sailor said " Brandy, you're a fine girl," (You're a fine girl)


"What a good wife you would be," (Such a fine girl)


"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea."


(Dooda-dit-dooda, dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)


Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes


When he told his sailor stories


She could feel the ocean fall an' rise


She saw its ragin' glory


But he had always told the truth, lord, he was an honest man


And Brandy does her best to understand


(Dooda-dit-dooda, dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)


At night when the bars close down


Brandy walks through a silent town



And loves a man who's not around


She still can hear him say


She hears him say "Brandy, you're a fine girl," (You're a fine girl)


"What a good wife you would be," (Such a fine girl)


"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea."


(Dooda-dit-dooda, dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)


"Brandy, you're a fine girl," (You're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be," (Such a fine girl)


"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea."
(Dooda-dit-dooda, dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)



Now, crank it up and read it again!: