Today in Comics History, September 23, 1942: Exactingly planned secret night mission takes place under brilliant full moon

from "Raider!" in Semper Fi #9 (Marvel, August 1989), script by Michael P. Palladino, pencils and inks by Wayne Vansant, colors and letters by Phil Felix
Curiously, this is actually a case of the creator doing their research: September 23, 1942 was a waxing gibbous moon, and would be a full moon the very next night. I'm not sure whether the tiny slice of shading on that moon on that plash page is a sign of that or maybe a slight misalignment of the red printing plate, but let's charitably chalk it up as a genius bonus and let it go at that.

Today in Comics History, September 23: Happy birthday, Paul Ryan!

Born today in 1949: comic book artist Paul Ryan (Fantastic Four, Fantastic Five, D.P. 7, The Flash, Iron Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Phantom comic strip, The Amazing Spider-Man Sunday comic strip, various Superman and Batman titles, The Avengers, Maximum Security and many more)! How great is Paul Ryan? So great he got two different Marvel Pro Files!



(top) from Marvel/New Universe comics cover-dated January 1988;
(bottom) Marvel Age #93 (Marvel, October 1990)
Now for birthday party games: seek and find Paul Ryan in the crowd at the El/Lane nuptial event below!:

from Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot (DC, December 1996), pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Jerry Ordway, colors by Glenn Whitmore, letters by Bill Oakley
Click top picture to honeymoon-size
Happy birthday to you, Paul!

Today in Comics History, September 23, 2020: NYPD promises new subway robots will be approachable and friendly

from Machine Man (1984 series) #1 (Marvel, October 1984); script by Tom DeFalco, breakdowns by Herb Trimpe, finishes and colors by Barry Windsor-Smith, letters b7 Michael Higgins

Today in Comics History, September 23, 1999: Stan Lee sneaks into J. Jonah Jameson's office and remakes the front page

house ad from Marvel Comics cover-dated December 1999

Today in Comics History, September 23: Happy birthday, Anthony Mackie!

Born on this day: actor Anthony Mackie!, the MCU's Sam Wilson, the Falcon and Captain America II!



from Guidebook to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America: Civil War (March 2017)
Happy birthday, Anthony!

Today in Comics History, September 23, 1996: Linda Park tells Rob his fly is open

from Flash (1987 series) #119 (DC, November 1996), script by Brian Augustyn and Mark Waid, pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Jose Marzan, Jr., colors by Tom McCraw, letters by Gaspar Saladino

Today in Comics History, September 23: Captain Marvel declares Indian food "too hot" and asks for a glass of milk

from Young Justice (2011 series) #18 (September 2012), script by Greg Weisman, pencils and inks by Christopher Jones, colors by Zac Atkinson, letters by Dezi Sienty

Today in Comics History, September 23, 1804: It's Creature-Fest '04 at Red Lobster

from Manifest Destiny #19 (Image, May 2016), script by Chris Dingess, pencils by Matthew Roberts, inks by Tony Akins and Stefano Gaudiano, colors by Owen Gieni, letters by Pat Brosseau

Today in Comics History: September 23: Happy birthday, John Coltrane!

Born on this day in 1926: jazz saxophonist/composer John Coltrane, creator of dozens of sublime jazz songs and albums (A Love Supreme, Blue Train, Ascension, My Favorite Things and more).


from the liner notes of the American Splendor soundtrack CD (New Line Records, 2003), script by Harvey Pekar, art by Gary Dumm
Happy birthday, Mr. Coltrane!


from Silver Surfer: Ghost Light #1 (Marvel, April 2023), script by John Jennings, art by Valentine DeLandro, colors by Matt Milla, letters by Joe Sabino

Today in Comics History, September 23, 1779: Led Zeppelin declares war on the Rolling Stones

from "Fighting Leathernecks" in The World Around Us #11 [The Illustrated Story of the Marines] (Gilberton, July 1959), pencils by Frank Bolle (?)

Today in Comics History, September 23: Happy birthday, Augustus Caesar!

Born on this day in 63 BC (wow, old!): Augustus Caesar, aka Octavian, the first Roman Emperor.

Which of course means a story entitled...


from "Great Caesar's Ghost" in Ghostly Tales #55 (Charlton, April 1966), script by Joe Gill (?), pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Rocco Mastroserio, letters by Jon D'Agostino

Today in Comics History, September 23: Batman punches out Michael Vick

from "Good Boy" in Batman Annual (2017 series) #1 (January 2017), script by Tom King, pencils and inks by David Finch, colors by Gabe Eltaeb, letters by Deron Bennett

Today in Comics History, September 23, 1959: Ozymandias invents the Dutch angle

from Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #3 (DC, November 2012), script by Len Wein, pencils and inks by Jae Lee, colors by June Chung, letters by John Workman

Today in Comics History, September 23, 1971: Metamorpho gets cranky when he's woken up early

from "Cold Blood, Hot Gun!" in The Brave and the Bold (1955 series) #101 (DC, April 1972), script by Bob Haney; pencils, inks and letters by Jim Aparo