Today in Comics History, October 3, 1951: World Series promo "Spooky Witch Night" deemed disappointing

from Richie Rich, Casper and Wendy — National League #1 one-shot (Harvey, June 1976); script, pencils and inks by Warren Kremer

Today in Comics History, February 5: Happy birthday, Hank Aaron!

Happy birthday to Hank Aaron, one of the greatest players of Major League Baseball, born on this day in 1934. His sensational home run record of 755 beat out Babe Ruth's previous record and cemented his place in history. 25 times an All-Star player, World Series champ and National League MVP in 1957, and inspiration for MLB's Hank Aaron Award — Aaron is a legend of sports. Why, even the whitest of white teenagers had a poster of Hank Aaron on his wall!


cover of Pep #302 (Archie, June 1975), pencils by Dan DeCarlo, inks by Rudy Lapick, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

Today in Comics History, August 17: Happy birthday, John Cadbury!

Born on this day in 1801: John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer! Whom I love, very, very, very much.


But sorry, no, he was never in comic books. Unless one of his descendants became this guy!:


cover of Richie Rich #5 (Harvey, January 1979), artist uncredited and unknown
Happy birthday, John Cadbury! Now please excuse me while I nosh on this jpg.

Today in Comics History, April 22, 1876: 1%er, dead child, and Satan-worshipper inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

from Richie Rich, Casper and Wendy — National League #1 one-shot (Harvey, June 1976); script, pencils and inks by Warren Kremer

Today in Comics History, March 2: Happy birthday, Mel Ott!

Mel Ott, professional Major League Baseball player, was born today in 1909. His nickname "Master Melvin" is about as cool as you can get without being Iron Man, and he's a National Baseball Hall of Famer who played for the New York Giants from 1926 through 1947.

Was he in comic books? Well, that's a silly question to ask this blog!


"Mel Ott" from The Amazing Willie Mays one-shot (Eastern Color, September 1954), pencils and inks by Frank Fogarty
Hey, he won a breakfast food poll! Hmm, wonder what that breakfast food mighta been?


from Parents' Magazine Institute comics indicia-dated May 1946
Here's a barely legible scan from a microfiche from a comic feature, which only goes to prove: I'll put anything in this space for completeness!


from "Sportettes" in More Fun Comics #35 (DC, September 1938); text, pencils, and inks by Sheldon Moldoff
And here's Mel being challenged by Tiny Captain Lou Albano!


from "Sporting Facts" in Funny Picture Stories v.2 #7 (Centaur, April 1938); text, pencils, and inks by Gill Fox
Now, let's have a guessing game. Riddle me this: what is the least likely cast of comic book characters you'd expect Mel Ott to crossover with? The Marvel Universe? Watchmen? Herbie the Fat Fury? No, it's Richie Rich and the Harvey Freaks of Nature!


from Richie Rich, Casper and Wendy: National League one-shot (Harvey, July 1976), script, pencils, and inks by Warren Kremer
I do hope Willie Mays told Richie "Do it yourself, rich white boy!"

Happy birthday, Mel! I'm sorry I had to associate your birthday with Richie Rich.

The 1992 2020 Marvel Age Calendar: In January it's so nice / To put Rick Jones on ice

Hello 2020! What d'you have to say about the new year, Cap?


Man, I worry about Captain America these days.

Yes, that's the kind humor you can enjoy all month long with the

"The 1992 Marvel Age Calendar: January" from Marvel Age #109 (February 1992);
by Mike Lackey and Darren Auck
(Click picture to Reaper Madness-size)
The joke all of January is that Rick Jones is dead and pretty much nobody cares! Haw! Wow, good thing that's not happening in Marvel Comics here in 2020, right? (tugs collar, makes choking sound, looks around nervously)

Mind you, it being a rare leap year right now, we don't have too many choices for this feature's usual schtick of Useable Calendars Found in Comic Books. As y'all can see, we haven't used this exact same calendar since 1992. And the last one before that was 1964! Before that was 1936, when the comics industry was still so squeakin' new that Kal-El was still a wee li'l babe ridin' his rocketship through the stars and listening to Jor-El's podcast "Things You Can Do On Earth (That Nobody Else Can Do.)" Sponsored by Casper Mattresses!


Speaking of Casper, one of the few 1964 calendars we can find in comics is in Harvey Comics cover-dated April 1964! So I went down into the Comics Cave, pulled out the longbox that's labelled HARVEY FREAKS OF NATURE, but I sadly seem to be missing Baby Huey, the Baby Giant #57, Sad Sack's Section Eight Comics #20, and For Pete's Sake, Little Lotta, Put Down that Pork Chop Annual #2, so that's not really a helpful solution now, is it? (Except a reminder to recycle more Harvey comics.)

So, as you see, above you'll find the beginning of some calendars from Marvel Age for the also-election year of 1992. Don't get too used to 'em, though, True Bullievers, because the all-cartoon format is about to in a few months and you'll see extremely stream-lined Marvel calendars with less artwork, fewer jokes, and definitely a minimal percentage of Irving Forbush. So enjoy these while they last, and now that they're half-price in the stores, you might want to keep and eye open for the eight-days-a-week stuffed-with-cold-hard-moolah calendar that Richie Rich, one of the aforementioned Harvey Freaks of Nature, seems to be enjoying right here. WHY DON'T YOU GET LOST ALREADY RICH YOU CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION 1%ER WHO WILL BE THE FIRST UP AGAINST THE WALL WHEN THE COMICS REVOLUTION COMES!!!


Cover of Ri¢hie Ri¢h DigeSt Winner$ #15 (July 1982), art by some Richie Rich artist guy, I dunno, s'posed to be good for ya