There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 8: A Chill in the Night

Tonight, according to the Super DC Calendar '76: Thomas and Martha* Wayne are murdered by Joe Chill, a crime so heinous it traveled backwards into the previous day by using a magic time bullet!


from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda
Now, here at Comics Oughta be Fun celebrate (celebrate?!?) Wayne Death on June the 26, but that's because of so many actual Pre-Flashpoint canon stories placing it at that date. But let's just play along and humor the Super Calendar this one time and wink at it, yes, of course, honey, June 8 is when it happened!

Meanwhile, we're gonna continue just as is and show you Night 8 out of 26!


from Detective Comics #576 (DC, July 1987), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Todd McFarlane, inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Agustin Más
*Why did I say that name?

Today in Comics History, June 8, 1984: Naked man holds swaddled baby

from Doomsday Clock #12 (DC, February 2020), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, June 8: Happy birthday, C. C. Beck!

Born on this day in 1910: C. C. Beck, co-creator and artist of Captain Marvel (you kids know him today as Shazam!) and many of the foundational supporting characters of the Marvel Family like Mister Mind, Doctor Sivana, Black Adam (hmmm, haven't heard much about him lately), Ibac, and the Sensational Character Find of 1947, Mr. Tawky Tawny, America's only tiger!!


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

Today in Comics History, June 8: The Three Stooges Blow Up the Planet, more like

from The Three Stooges Meet Hercules one-shot (Dell, August 1962), pencils and inks by Sparky Moore

Today in Comics History, June 8: Happy birthday, Michael Higgins!

Let's all gather around a cake for Michael Higgins today and celebrate the birthday of the Marvel Comics writer, inker, colorist, letterer, and editor on series like Marvel Comics Presents, Conan the Barbarian, Excalibur, Daredevil, The Punisher, and lots 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)

Today in Comics History, June 8, 1954: Twenty-five years later, Columbo cracks the case in ninety minutes

from Doomsday Clock #10 (DC, July 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, June 8: Go tell Aunt Grey Goose

from Iron Man #599 (June 2018), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Stefano Caselli, colors by Marte Gracia, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, June 8, 1954: More delays on the filming of the Hellblazer movie

from Doomsday Clock #10 (DC, July 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, June 8, 1954: Neither does the writer

from Doomsday Clock #10 (DC, July 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, June 8, 1927: Criminal sentence expands to fill remaining space in panel

from "The Baby-Face Killer" in Crime Must Pay the Penalty #33/1 (Ace, February 1948), pencils and inks by Ann Brewster

Today in Comics History, June 8, 1954: #RestoreTheJacquesCut

from Doomsday Clock #10 (DC, July 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, June 8: Happy birthday, Rita Smolinski!

Born on this day: Rita Smolinski, from Marvel's PR department in the '90s!


from Marvel Age #102 (Marvel, July 1991); text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter; pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Renee Witterstaetter
You should check out Rita's (sadly defunct) blog Comic Book Ads, which covers — well, exactly that! Lots of great ads, entries, and fun to be found there.

Happy birthday, Rita!

Today in Comics History, June 8: Spotlight on...Dirty Rags!

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

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 7: DC Comics: single-handedly keeping the incorrectly strung pearl necklace market going for over 80 years

from Batman: The Smile Killer (DC/Black Label, August 2020), script by Jeff Lemire, pencils and inks by Andrea Sorrentino, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Steve Wands
11,000.

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Tom Jones!

On this date in 1940, international star and singer Sir Tom Jones was born! It's not unusual...to celebrate his birthday!

Hey wait! That's not the Tom Jones I meant!


Wheaties ad from DC Comics cover-dated March 1946

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1940: RAF banter reaches intolerable levels

from "The First Ace of WWII" in Real Heroes #2 (Parents' Magazine Press, December 1941), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Rick Hoberg!

Born on this day: Rick Hoberg, comics artist (The Strangers, All-Star Squadron, Batman, Eternity Smith, Green Arrow, Star Wars, New Gods, Roger Rabbit, Power Girl, What If?, and more!) and animator (Godzilla, Super Friends, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Justice League, X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and yes, more here too)!


from The Strangers #7 (Malibu, December 1993), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Rick Hoberg
Happy birthday, Rick!


from All-Star Squadron #32 (DC, April 1984)

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1805: The hills are alive, and it's pretty frightening

from Manifest Destiny #42 (Image, March 2020), script by Chris Dingess, pencils and inks by Matthew Roberts, colors by Owen Gieni, letters by Pat Brosseau

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Graham Ingels!

Born on this day in 1915: "Ghastly" Graham Ingels, magazine and comics illustrator, best known for his macabre work on the EC Comics horror books like The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror!


from Haunt of Fear #10 (EC, November 1951), text by Al Feldstein

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1917: Snoopy's story takes a very dark turn

from "Collishaw" in Real Life Comics #7 (Pines, September 1942), pencils and inks by Will Rowland

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

Today in Comics History, June 7: Big-ass tomato hits mountain

from "Once More Unto the Breach" in Action Comics Weekly #619 (DC, September 27, 1988), script by Martin Pasko, pencils by Frank Springer, inks by Frank McLaughlin, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Albert DeGuzman

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1865: Origin of that fire on the map from Bonanza

from "Peril Stalks Man's Quest of Gold" in Real Life Comics #7 (Pines, September 1942), script by Richard Hughes, pencils and inks by Henry Kiefer

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1957: I'm happy for you, Bucky, or sorry that happened, but I ain't reading all that

from Captain America (2005 series) #11 (Marvel, November 2005), script by Ed Brubaker, pencils and inks by Steve Epting, additional inks by Mike Perkins, colors by Frank D'Armata, letters by Randolph Gentile

Today in Comics History, June 7: Happy birthday, Dean Martin!

Born today in 1917: Singer, actor, comedian and comic book star Dean Martin! Let's all raise a glass of something alcoholic to toast ol' Dino and celebrate his appears in the comics!


house ad from DC comics dated October 1953

Today in Comics History, June 7: Cartoon violence made even more cartoonish by cartoon physics

"The Bungle Family: Bounced" in Big Shot Comics #4 (Columbia, August 1940), by H. J. Tuthill

Today in Comics History, June 7, 1892: I'd play pro baseball if this could be my position

from "Bob Feller's Baseball 'Firsts'" in Baseball Thrills #3 (Ziff-Davis, Summer 1952), pencils and inks by Wally Littman

Today in Comics History, June 7: Lurking on the ceiling, Spider-Man overhears criminal plan

from "Corpse for Hire" in Police Line-Up #2 (Avon, December 1951), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 7, 2:59 AM: Where there's smoke, there's plenty of YR coloring

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

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 6: Now he's being shot from behind? What the heck kinda magic bullet is this?

from Batman: Sins of the Father #1 (DC, April 2018), script by Christos Gage, pencils and inks by Raffaele Ienco, colors by Guy Major, letters by Josh Reed

Today in Comics History, June 6: Superboy totally missed last night's A&E Biography of Bret "Hitman" Hart

from Superman (2018 series) #10 (June 2019), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Brandon Peterson, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Josh Reed

Today in Comics History, June 6: Nancy still keeps receipts

Nancy (United Feature Syndicates, July 13, 2021), by Olivia Jaimes
Have some déjà vu from March 30? Then see y'all back here for this strip once again on August 21!

Today in Comics History, June 6, 2021: A Great Metropolitan Newspaper, A Lousy Amateur Masthead

from Infinite Frontier #3 (DC, September 2021), script by Joshua Williamson; pencils and inks by Paul Pelletier and Norm Rapmund, Jesús Merino and Raúl Fernández, Tom Derenick, and/or Xermanico, colors by Rómulo Fajardo Jr., letters by Tom Napolitano

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1962: The Beatles: The Crossing

Today in 1962: The Beatles’ first recording session at EMI Studios in St. John's Wood, London. Fourteen years later, the studio will oficially change its name to the title we now know 'n' love, love love it do: Abbey Road Studios.


from Beatles with an A: Birth of a Band (Fanfare, July 2014), script and art by Mauri Kunnas
From 7-10 PM, The Beatles rehearsed and then recorded a few little songs you may have heard of, including "Love Me Do," "P.S. I Love You," and "Ask Me Why." Not bad for your first try, lads!


from The Beatles in Comics! (NBM, November 2018); script by Richard Di Martino; translation by Joe Johnson; pencils, inks, and colors by Romuald Gleyze; letters by Ortho
They first meet producer George Martin, who will become such an important figure in their professional lives:


from The Beatles: Their Story in Pictures (ITV, 1982), script by Angus P. Allan, art by Arthur Ranson (collected from the strip in (Look-In)
The best of the Beatles was still to come.

But for drummer Pete Best, his involvement with the band was drawing to a close.

Today in Comic Book History, June 6, 2019: Superman is missing? Why isn't Clark Kent reporting on this?

from Doomsday Clock #8 (DC February 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh
Oh no! OH NO! COW MASSACRE! COW MASSACR(reads more closely) Oh, okay.


Also today! Superman fights for his right to party!


Just enother exciting day in the life of Kal-El, then.