Today in Comics History, June 26: Happy birthday, Warren Kremer!

Born on this day in 1921: comics writer and artist Warren Kremer, co-creator of Richie Rich, and creator of Hot Stuff the Little Devil and Stumbo the Giant! Sadly, uncredited within the Harvey Comics, of which he's drawn hundreds and hundreds of.


from Marvel Age #54 (L) (Marvel, September 1987) and #90 (R) (Marvel, July 1990), text by Mike Carlin (#54) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#90); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Paul Becton (#54) and Renee Witterstaetter (#90)
At Star Comics, Marvel's 1980s imprint for kids comics, Warren co-created Royal Roy, Top Dog, and Planet Terry!


from Marvel/Star Comics cover-dated December 1987
Happy birthday, Warren!

Today in Comics History, December 31, 1986, New Year's Eve: Star Comics characters beg 1986 to stay because they know they'll be cancelled in 1987

from subscription house ad in Marvel/Star Comics cover-dated June 1987

Today in Comics History, December 9: Happy birthday, José Delbo!

Born on this day: comics artiost José Delbo (Wonder Woman, Detective Comics, Hogan's Heroes, The Monkees, Billy the Kid, Yellow Submarine, Batgirl, World's Finest Comics, The Twilight Zone, The Transformers, NFL SuperPro, many more)!


from DC Comics cover-dated September 1981


from Marvel/Star comics cover-dated June 1988
Happy birthday, José!

Today in Comics History, July 13: Happy birthday, Ernie Colón!

Born on this day in 1931: Ernie Colón, comics artist (penciller, inker, colorist, and letterer! Editor, too!) for over forty years, including a huge number of titles at Harvey Comics plus work for Archie, Gold Key, Malibu, Marvel, Atlas/Seaboard, Eclipse, Skywald, Valiant, and even Wham-O Comics! Titles include Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Jackie Jokers, Hot Stuff, Wendy the Good Little Witch, Mighty Mouse, Doctor Solar, The Black Comic Book, Battlestar Galactica, Black Widow: The Coldest War, Star Wars: Droids, Bullwinkle and Rocky, Magnus: Robot Fighter, The Medusa Chain, Ax, Last Kiss, SpyCat, and — in completely honesty — a whole lot more. Whew! He co-created Damage Control, Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld and Arak: Son of Thunder,


from "Star Signals" in Marvel/Star Comics cover-dated July 1988

Today in Comics History, July 6: Happy birthday, Tony Franco!

Born on this day: comics writer and penciller Tony Franco, who wrote scripts for Marvel's Star imprint in the 1980s (Flintstone Kids, Heathcliff, Popples, Foofur, Heathcliff's Funhouse, Hugga Bunch) and Harvey (New Kids on the Block), and also drew stories for Heathcliff! His creator-owned projects include the comics It's a Dog's Life, Liberteria, Knights of Atavar and more!


from Marvel/Star Comics cover-dated November 1989
Happy birthday, Tony!

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Larry Hama!

Let's all say happy birthday today to comic-book writer, artist, actor, and musician Larry Hama! He co-created Bucky O'Hare, the Nth Man, Obnoxio the Clown, Lady Deathstrike, Colleen Wing and more, and his writing credits are vast: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and assorted spinoffs and continuations, Wolverine, Elektra, Kitty Pryde, Iron Fist, lots of Venom miniseries, Mort the Dead Teenager, Generation X, and much, much more!


from Marvel Age #30, 54, and 90 (Marvel, September 1985, September 1987, and July 1990); text by Jim Salicrup (#30), Mike Carlin (#54) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#90); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Andy Yanchus (#30), Paul Becton (#54) and Renee Witterstaetter (#90) Look, it's Larry! (And some guy named Roy. I dunno, s'posed to be good for you.)


cover of Marvel Age #93 (Marvel, October 1990), pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Tom Palmer

Comics Do Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Act 1: I write the quotes that make the whole world quote

And now, that one, you know, the love story, where the two kids get married and live happily ever after, y'know, I haven't quite finished watching it yet.



"The Sources of Famous Quotations" from Star Comics #1 (Chesler/Dynamic, February 1937), pencils and inks by Creig Flessel (?)
Wait, that the "famous" quotation everybody knows from Shakespeare? As if! What about "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun?" Or "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Or how about that favorite Shakespeare quote among thumb-biters: "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?" Sheesh. I tell ya, nobody starts their Romeo and Juliet scene off with "He jests at scars that never felt a wound." Pfui.

Today in Comics History, March 16: Happy birthday, Grace Kremer!

Born on this day in 1924: Grace Kremer, letterer on comics from the Golden Age through the 1980s, including Heathcliff, Top Dog, Ewoks, Wally the Wizard, ALF, Richie Rich, Saved by the Bell, New Kids on the Block, and many more! Married to artist Warren Kremer, she first met and worked with him on the book Hap Hazard (Ace, 1944-1949), his first comic book assignment.


from Marvel/Star Comics cover-dated December 1988
Happy birthday, Grace!

Today in Comics History, January 15: Happy birthday, Stan Kay!

Born on this day in 1924: comics scripter Stan Kay, who wrote a wide assortment of comic stories for Harvey (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Wendy Witch World, etc.) and Marvel's Star line (Care Bears, Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, more)!


from Marvel Age #49 (Marvel, April 1987), text by Mike Carlin, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Paul Becton
Happy birthday, Stan!

Today in Comics History, July 4: Popeye's cousin continues to serve out his 25-30 for bunco fraud

So. I am not going to reprint the cover of Chesler/Dynamic's 1937 Star Comics #5 (go ahead, look it up yourself; don't say I didn't warn you), but here's a gag strip about the Fourth of July. Wow, who knew there were men's right activists doing cartoons back then. Still: hardened criminals cutting out paper dolls: always good for a larf!


"Belly Laughs" from Star Comics #5 (Chesler/Dynamic, July 1937), creators uncredited and unknown

Paper Doll Month, Day 16: Dress Misty for Me

Paper doll pages from [Meet] Misty #6 (Marvel/Star Comics, October 1986); script, pencils, and inks by Trina Robbins, letters by L. Lois Buhalis

Delusional Comics Retailers 2006, Part 1

Out in front of 500 Fifth Avenue as we now speak (well, actu'lly, as I now write and, if you are reading this right at the time I'm writing it, as you now read...), a man has set up a card table on the sidewalk and is selling bagged comic books.

His table is filled with mid-eighties to mid-nineties Marvels: late 200s Avengers, Thunderstrike-era Thor, assorted New Universe titles, Micronauts: The New Voyages...all priced at a delusional three or four bucks a badly-bagged pop.

The most outrageously wacky price-to-value ratio? Planet Terry #10, priced at five dollars.

If you're in midtown Manhattan and want it, better rush down and buy it pronto before he unloads it on a guileless tourist kid.