Thursday, June 30, 2022

Today in Comics History, June 30: June comes in like a lion and goes out like a Bee


from "Vacation Vexation" in Archie and Me #104 (Archie, September 1978), script by George Gladir, pencils by Stan Goldberg, inks by Rudy Lapick, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

That's a perfect June calendar, but it's not one you coulda used this year. (Not to mention, the month is over!) But hang onto it! You can use it next year in 2023! You'd better clip 'n' save it now because I'm not gonna remind you in a year. (I will totally remind you in a year.)

Today in Comics History, June 30: Happy birthday, Phil Lord!

Born on this day: inker Phil Lord (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Revenge of the Living Monolith, more)!


from Marvel Age #30 (Marvel, September 1985); text by Jim Salicrup, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Andy Yanchus

Happy birthday, Phil!

Today in Comics History, June 30: Happy birthday, Shawn McManus!

Born on this day: comics artist Shawn McManus (Swamp Thing, Sandman, Omega Men, Doctor Fate, Marvel Comics Presents, Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, Fables, Fairest, Detective Comics, Man Called A-X, and more)!


from New Talent Showcase (1984 series) #5 (May 1984)

Happy birthday, Shawn!


from Sandman: The Deluxe Edition v.3 (DC/Vertigo, October 2021)

Today in Comics History, June 30: Happy birthday, Christopher Priest!

Born on this day: comics scipter and editor Christopher Priest or just Priest (aka James Owsley), the first Black writer/editor in mainstream comics! His extensive work includes Conan, Black Panther, Justice League, Steel, Vampirella, Deathstroke, Quantum and Woody, and much more! Priest also co-created Quantum and Woody, Okoye of Wakanda, Everett K. Ross, and others.


from Black Panther (Marvel, 1998 series) #12 (October 1999)





Today in Comics History, June 30, 1908: In Soviet Russia, Earth hits meteor!


from "Solar System Sizes" in Strange Adventures (1950 series) #69 (DC, June 1956), creators uncredited and unknown





Today in Comics History, June 30, 2006: How can we miss you, Superman, if you won't go away


from Daily Planet Special Edition: Superman Returns promo (DC, June 2006)

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Today in Comics History, June 29: Happy birthday, Robert Rodi!

Born on this day: novelist, playwright, essayist, performance artist and comic book writer Robert Rodi (Codename: Knockout, The Crossovers, Astonishing Thor, Thor; For Asgard, Identity Disc, Merry Men, What They Did to Princess Paragon and more)!


from CrossGen Comics cover-dated May 2003, art by Jim Fern

Happy birthday, Robert!


from Heartthrobs (1999 series) #1 (DC/Vertigo, January 1999)

Today in Comics History, June 29: Happy birthday, Gary Busey!

Happy birthday today to actor Gary Busey, who's appeared in The Buddy Holly Story, The Prince of Tides, Under Siege, Lethal Weapon, Silver Bullet, Point Break, Predator 2, D.C. Cab, and The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour!



from "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase Quickly Cancelled Comic Cavalcade" in Simpsons Comics #112 (Bongo, November 2005), script and pencils by Ty Templeton, inks by Mike Rote, colors by Art Villanueva, letters by Karen Bates

Happy birthday, Gary!

Today in Comics History, June 29: Happy birthday, Don Rosa!

Born on this day: the second Duck Master, Don Rosa! Don has written and drawn dozens and dozens of Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck family stories for various companies around the world publishing Disney comic books, including the definitive Scrooge biography The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck!



from Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge #317 (Gladstone, January 1999), text by Michael Naiman, photographs by Jim Mitchell

Happy birthday, Don! This post is not DuckTales!

Today in Comics History, June 29, 1995: Hero's jaw drawn with T-square


from "Creatures on the Loose" in Venom Super Special #1 one-shot (Marvel, August 1995), script by Terry Kavanagh, pencils by Kevin West, inks by Hector Collazo, colors by Chia-Chi Wang, letters by Ken Lopez

Today in Comics History, June 29-July 19: And that's why the Beetle never lets anyone else balance his checkbook


from Lethal Foes of Spider-Man #2 (Marvel, October 1993), script by Danny Fingeroth, pencils by Scott McDaniel, inks by Brad Vancata and Frank Turner, colors by Dave Sampson, letters by Diana Albers

Today in Comics History, June 29, 1886: Charlton brings a train to a space fight



"Engine No. 329 — Always on Time" from Space War #20 (Charlton, January 1963), creators uncredited and unknown

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Today in Comics History, June 28: Happy birthday, Mike Royer!

A very happy birthday today to comics artist and inker Mike Royer, who's worked on a big range of titles for an awful lot of publishers. He's done stories in Donald Duck, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, Detective Comics, 1st Issue Special, Weird Mystery Tales, and more, plus definitive work inking Russ Manning (Tarzan, Korak, Magnus: Robot Fighter, Star Wars)...


from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1979 (Marvel, 1977)

...but Mike's perhaps best known for his extensive work inking comics by Jack Kirby, to which we can thank Vince Colletta for ticking off the King of Comics for erasing his pencils (and being a jerk to him about it). Here's how Kirby's story of getting Royer on board was told in the Tom Scioli bio-graphic novel:



from Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics (Ten Speed, July 2020), script and art by Tom Scioli

Not that there weren't bumps in the relationship...


...but once their collaboration got smoothed out, it really clicked. Royer inked the lion's share of Kirby's 1970s-1980s output, including (inhale) Kamandi, Justice Inc., Mister Miracle, The Demon, Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, The New Gods, The Hunger Dogs, Dingbats of Danger Street, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eternals, OMAC, Black Panther, What If? #11, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, Captain America, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers, Silver Star, and more (exhale!). Kirby considered Royer his favorite inker of his work.


Happy birthday, Mike!

Today in Comics History, June 28: Happy birthday, Gilda Radner!

Born on this day in 1946: the late great comedian and actress Gilda Radner, my favorite performer of the Saturday Night Live Not Ready for Prime Time Players!

But did she ever appear in comic books? Well, yes.



cover of Marvel Team-Up (1972 series) #74 (Marvel, October 1978), pencils and inks by Dave Cockrum, SNL caricature pencils and inks by Marie Severin, letters by Irv Watanabe

Gilda, like all the cast of the second season of SNL, appeared in this unlikely-to-ever-be-reprinted (so look for it in backissue racks!) Spider-Man comic!


from Marvel Team-Up #74; script by Chris Claremont, pencils by Bob Hall, inks and colors by Marie Severin, letters by Gaspar Saladino and Annette Kawecki

A lovely thing about their weird and wonderful book is that Claremont gave every cast member (plus Lorne Michaels) a spotlight scene, and here's Gilda as Weekend Update commentator Emily Litella (along with Jane Curtin).



Take a bow, Gilda and Company!



Gilda, you are very much loved and very much missed.


"Young Woman of the Month" from Young Love (1963 series) #122 (DC, November 1976), text by Ellen Spencer (who was possibly Tony Isabella?), pencils by Joe Orlando, inks by Vince Colletta

Happy birthday, Gilda Radner!

Today in Comics History, June 28, 1778: British retreat, claiming tea-time

Hey, look what it is: that danged Superman Salutes the Bicentennial treasury which is completely full of Tomahawk reprints and not a single Superman comic. I will never stop makin' fun of this thing.

Yes, I have a copy. (sigh)


from "Valley Forge" in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-47 [Superman Salutes the Bicentennial] (DC, August 1976); script, pencils and inks by Fred Ray

Today in Comics History, June 28: Happy birthday, Adrienne Roy!

Born on this date in 1953: comic book colorist extraordinaire Adrienne Roy! She's colored the following characters at DC: just about every single one of 'em! Her credits include Detective Comics, Batman, Robin, Warlord, The New Teen Titans and The New Titans, Arak, Son of Thunder, House of Mystery, Superman and literally dozens and dozens more.


from from DC Comics cover-dated February 1980




Today in Comics History, June 28, 1898: But Alan didn't like him, so he shot him in the face


from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1999 series) #2 (America's Best Comics, April 1999), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by Kevin O'Neill, colors by Benedict Dimagmaliw, letters by William Oakley

Today in Comics History, June 28, 1778: Pitcher takes the mound(mouth)


from "Heroine of the Battle of Monmouth" in Real Heroes #1 (Parents' Magazine Press, September 1941), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 7, 3:00 AM: Kid Flash arrives too late to save a drowning Cyborg


from "Spread Your Broken Wings and Learn to Fly" in Action Comics Weekly #603 (DC, June 7, 1988), script by Martin Pasko, pencils and inks by Dan Spiegle, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Carrie Spiegle

Monday, June 27, 2022

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 27: There Is No Hope at Haley's Circus

As we saw a few days ago, the death of Dick Grayson's parents occurred on June 27 — a day after the anniversary of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. Maybe he went to that circus to cheer himself up?


from Nightwing (1995 series) #1 (DC, September 1995), script by Dennis O'Neil, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Mike Sellers, colors by Cathi Bertrand, letters by John Costanza

Naturally, that means that June 27 is a major day in the life of Robin/Nightwing, and even more than Batman, his friends gather around him to support him on those days.


from Identity Crisis #1 (DC, August 2004), script by Brad Meltzer, pencils by Rags Morales, inks by Michael Bair, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Ken Lopez

But hey! Identity Crisis?! No way, Dick Gray! (son) Let's focus instead on a good comic book that shows his titanic pals coming to Robin's support on this day.


from "Regarding Robin" in Teen Titans Go! (2004 series) #47 (DC, November 2007), script by J. Torres, pencils and inks by Michael Chang, colors by Heroic Age, letters by John J. Hill

First Cyborg, then Beast Boy, is attentive to his mood. Somewhere in there I hope they offered to make him waffles. Raven is especially attuned to his mood. Well, considering who her father is, she probably wishes he had died in a freak circus accident. "Oh no! The amazing Trigon had fallen from the Big Top!"


Awwwwwwww. Your heart must be made of stone if you don't feel just a little bit sad about this scene.


And good for Starfire! Using her Tamaranean empathy (and cute big green eyes) to comfort Robin.


Maybe this isn't something Batman oughta be spying on, ya voyeur, Bruce.


Seriously, a sweet story, and a reminder that there is hope in Titans Tower.