Today in Comics History, September 19: Happy birthday, William Golding!

Born on this day in 1911: author William Golding, who wrote The Pyramid, the To the Ends of the Earth trilogy, The Inheritors, The Brass Butterfly, The Scorpion God, and of course Lord of the Flies, all about a young hobbit who has been tasked to toss a particularly nasty housefly into an evil volcano...Oh, I've made another one of my silly mistakes. It's actually a novelization of that episode of The Simpsons where all the kids were marooned on a deserted island from a sinking school bus.



from "The Lord of the Flies" in The Graphic Canon v.3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (Seven Stories, July 2013), from the niovel by William Golding, adapted by Trevor Alixopulos
William Golding! One heck of a writer, not onloy of novels, but of pithy epitaths to round out your superhero saga.

from Earth X #12 (Marvel, April 2000), co-plot and script by Jim Krueger, co-plot by Alex Ross, pencils and ink assists by John Paul Leon, inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Melissa Edwards, letters by Todd Klein
(Click top picture to fattening-Earth-diet-size)
Happy birthday, Bill!

Today in Comics History, September 19, 1783: The Golden Age of Ballooning

This is a much expanded and updated version of a post originally published September 19, 2016.


Yes, t'was today in 1783, that Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier initiated the livestock-crewed flight that ushered in the Golden Age of Ballooning!


from "Airecords" in Adventure Comics #40 (DC/Detective Comics, Inc., July 1939), by Terry Gilkison

Today in Comics History, September 19: Schoolchildren can no longer read these captions

from Spectacular Spider-Man #149 (Marvel, April 1989), script by Gerry Conway, pencils and inks by Sal Buscema, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, September 19: Happy birthday, Rosemary Harris!

Born on this day: actor Rosemary Harris! She starred in Crossing Delancey, The Boys from Brazil, Holocaust, and a li'l role you might know spelled AUNT MAY PARKER.




from Spider-Man: The Movie (Marvel, May 2002), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Dave Kemp, letters by Dave Sharp

Today in Comics History, September 19, 1948: Larry puts it there

from Larry Doby, Baseball Hero one-shot (Fawcett, 1950), script by Charles Dexter

Today in Comics History, September 19: Happy birthday, Felix Mendelssohn!

No, no, not the classical music Felix Mendelssohn who composed the "Wedding March" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"...but instead Bartholdy Felix Mendelssohn, born on this day in 1911, who founded Felix Mendelssohn's Hawaiian Serenaders, the British Hawaiian band who popularized island music in Britain in the 1930s and '40s. And yes, he had a comic strip. (Doesn't everybody?) Look, see!:


"The White Queen of the Islands" in Radio Fun Annual 1948 (Amalgamated Press UK, 1948), creators uncredited and unknown
Hauʻoli Lā Hānau, Felix!

Today in Comics History, September 19, 1881: Beloved lasagna-loving cat finally succumbs to injuries

from Picture Stories from American History #4 (EC, Summer 1947), script by Jerry Coleman, pencils and inks by Allen Simon

Today in Comics History, September 19, 1863: Bet they didn't use the word "fouled"

from "Chickamauga!" in Frontline Combat #8 (EC, September 1952), script by Harvey Kurtzman, pencils and inks by Jack Davis, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, September 19, 1983: Chairface Chippendale is furious he wasn't included in heist

from Flaming Carrot Comics #26 (Dark Horse, June 1991); script by Bob Burden; pencils and inks by Bob Burden, Rod Whigham, Pat St Amopur, Joe Pruett, and Marsha Jensen; letters by Roxanne Starr

Today in Comics History, September 19, 1988: "I said, AVON CALLING."

from D.P. 7 #28 (Marvelk/New Universe, February 1989), script by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Danny Bulanadi, colors by Paul Becton, letters by Janice Chiang

Today in Comics History, September 19: Happy birthday, Brian Garvey!

Born on this day: comics inker Brian Garvey (Iron Man, Transformers, ROM, Anima, Vision and Scarlet Witch, What If?, and more)!


from Marvel Age #33 and 57 (Marvel, December 1985 and December 1987); text by Jim Salicrup (#33) and Mike Carlin (#57); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Adam Philips (#33) and Paul Becton (#57)
Happy birthday, Brian!

Today in Comics History, September 18, 1949: Yogi Berra destroys COVID-19 virus with Louisville Slugger

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

365 Days of Defiance, Day 262: World War Batman (also: Today in Comics History, September 19, 1944)

Earth-2 Batman...stalking Nazis! This can only mean one thing...it must be a Roy Thomas story!


from The Brave and the Bold (1955 series) #167 (DC, October 1980), pencils by Dave Cockrum, inks by Dan Adkins, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda, and script by...


Oh. Maybe not.

You can tell it's Earth-2 Batman because he doesn't have a yellow circle around his chest emblem. And that the cars are from the 1940s. And that his parents died after the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks version of Zorro, not 1972's The Erotic Adventures of Zorro.


Meanwhile also minutes later...the Blackhawks! Hey, it's a Mark Evanier script! Oh wait, it isn't.


But what was the Nazi's evil plan?


OH NO THEY BLEW UP DOC SAVAGE

Today in Comics History, September 19, 2038: Deadman continues to build his 1:1 scale Superman action figure collection

from The Kingdom #1 (DC, February 1999), script by Mark Waid, pencils and inks by Ariel Olivetti, colors by John Kalisz, color separations by Chris Chuckry, letters by Phil Felix