Today in Crisis History, July 13, 1985: I was born to bring trouble wherever I'm at / With the number "13" tattooed on my neck

Well, it's July 13, and luckily it doesn't fall on a Friday. For that we can thank Roy Thomas Pope Gregory XIII for our current calendar, although hey, while we're here, let's just put any blame on Mxyzptlk. He's probably responsible!

Crisis on Infinite Earths is a complicated crossover event, so let's review the plot to date:


Crisis on Infinite Earths #3
Well, that about sums it up.

Today in Crisis History, July 12, 1985: Thank Zod it's Friday

Goooooood morning! How'd you sleep? Did you sleep well considering the multiverse will soon be dead, dead, dead? Deader than Deadman, the deadest man of them all? Deader than Jason Todd? (Whoops, metaphor not valid after 2005.) Well, I hope you did! Sit down and have a sunny glass of fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice (never from concentrate!) while I fill you in on the schedule for our busy day of July 12: Today in Crisis History!


from "The Comprehensive Calendar to Crisis on Infinite Earths" in Amazing Heroes #91 (Fantagraphics, March 15, 1986), by Andy Mangels

Today in Comics History, October 29: Happy birthday, Tom King (but not the one you're thinking of)!

Born on this day: comics' Tom King! No, no, not that one: the other guy, the Bongo artist for Simpsons Comics and Futurama Comics, seen here (in red) with editor Bill Morrison (in yellow)!


from "Backstage at Bongo" in Bongo Comics [Free-for-All] Free Comic Book Day 2006 (Bongo, May 2006), creators uncredited and unknown
Happy birthday, Tom King!

Today in Comics History, July 23: Happy birthday, Mike Vosburg!

Today the birthday boy is comics writer/artist/storyboarder Mike Vosburg (Sisterhood of Steel, G.I. Joe, The Savage She-Hulk, Bloodshot, Archer & Armstrong, and more)! He designed and drew the comic book covers you saw on the TV series Tales from the Crypt!


from Marvel Age #31 (Marvel, October 1985), text by Jim Salicrup, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Andy Yanchus
Plus, he's the creator/scripter/artist on Epic's Heavy hitters miniseries Offcastes! Here, female and male friends associates weigh on his aethestic of designing female characters for the series.


from Offcastes #1 (Marvel/Epic, July 1993), script and art by Mike Vosburg
Mike was also the first artist to draw Christy Marx's creator-owned series The Sisterhood of Steel. Here, he and Christy bid the reader a fond farewell in a pin-up at the end of the first miniseries's final issue.



from The Sisterhood of Steel #8 (Marvel/Epic, February 1986), script by Christy Marx, pencils and inks by Mike Vosburg
Happy birthday, Mike!


from Offcastes #1

Today in Comics History, July 15, 1958: Rest in Peace, Julia Lennon

from Beatles with an A: Birth of a Band (Fanfare, July 2014), script and art by Mauri Kunnas