TURNING POINTS by Maggie Thompson

Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for October 7-13, 2022…

140 years ago October 10, 1882 Homer Fleming is born. He’s an artist for Golden Age comics, especially for DC.

125 years ago October 8, 1897 Eelco Harmsen van der Beek is born. The Dutch artist creates the advertising character Flipje and (with Enid Blyton) the “Noddy” series for children.

125 years ago October 12, 1897 Charles Henry Ross dies at age 62. The British comics writer-artist co-created Ally Sloper with Isabelle de Tessier.

115 years ago October 8, 1907 Award-winning Disney and UPI animator Arthur Babbitt is born. He designs the witch in Snow White and Geppetto in Pinocchio and leads the 1941 Disney Studio strike.

105 years ago October 12, 1917 Roger Armstrong is born. The artist and teacher draws for such comic books as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics, among other Dell series, where his features include Warner Bros., Disney, and Hanna-Barbera characters. He draws the Ella Cinders newspaper strip in the 1950s.

105 years ago October 13, 1917 Puppeteer Burr Tillstrom is born. He creates the “Kukla, Fran, and Ollie” TV feature.

100 years ago October 9, 1922 Fritzi Ritz by Larry Whittington begins. (Yes, Ernie Bushmiller will take over the series in 1925.)

80 years ago October 11, 1942 Milton Caniff begins special Terry and the Pirates strips (featuring Burma) for service newspapers.

75 years ago October 10, 1947 Writer-artist Joseph Jacinto Mora dies at age 70. He created the Animaldom feature.

75 years ago October 10, 1947 Chicago Mayor Martin Kennelly bans the sale of Crime Does Not Pay comic books in the city.

75 years ago October 11, 1947 Cartoonist Ippei Okamoto dies at age 61. He helped to form the first Japanese cartoonists’ organization and introduced U.S. strips to Japan.

75 years ago October 12, 1947 The cartoonist creator of Rose Is Rose, Pat Brady, is born.

70 years ago October 11, 1952 Belgian comics publisher Jean Dupuis dies at age 76.

70 years ago October 11, 1952 Jim Woodring is born. The artist-writer is especially known for Jim and Frank.

70 years ago October 13, 1952 Lawyer and writer Bob Ingersoll is born. The reviewer and essayist is known for his CBG and ComicMix column The Law Is a Ass, addressing the legal aspects of comics stories.

65 years ago October 8, 1957 Artist Richard Thompson is born. He creates the Cul de Sac strip and Richard’s Poor Almanac.

65 years ago October 11, 1957 Edmond-François Calvo dies at age 65. The influential French funny animal writer-artist was especially known for La Bête Est Mort.

60 years ago October 9, 1962 Philippe Escafre is born. The French writer-artist who works as “Coyote” creates “Bébert, Clochard et Philosophe,” “Litteul Kévin,” and the biker strip Mammouth et Piston.

55 years ago October 10, 1967 Editor and letterer Douglas W. Dlin is born.

50 years ago October 7, 1972 The Mighty World of Marvel #1 kicks off a weekly series of British reprints of Marvel comics.

40 years ago October 10, 1982 Ben Krefta is born. The manga-style artist also produces “how to” art books.

30 years ago October 9, 1992 The Words & Pictures Museum of Fine Sequential Art (founded by Kevin Eastman) opens in Northampton, Massachusetts.

15 years ago October 10, 2007 Fan John Simpson dies of cancer at age 51.

5 years ago October 12, 2017 Austrian artist Erwin Moser dies at age 63.

5 years ago October 12, 2017 Margreet de Heer is elected first Dutch Stripmaker des Vaderlands (Comics Laureate of the Netherlands). She created the Discoveries in Comics series and Kinderleed Komix.

5 years ago October 13, 2017 During a Santa Rosa, California, fire, the house of the late Charles M. Schulz burns down; his widow, Jean, is saved.