TURNING POINTS by Maggie Thompson
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Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for September 18-24, 2020…
135 years ago September 21, 1885 Harold Tucker Webster is born. Themes of his more than 16,000 panel cartoons include The Timid Soul (featuring Caspar Milquetoast), Life’s Darkest Moments, and The Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime.
120 years ago September 24, 1900 Writer-artist Ham Fisher is born. The Joe Palooka creator is the only member expelled from the NCS for “conduct unbecoming a cartoonist.”
115 years ago September 20, 1905 French artist René Bonnet is born. He creates Fripounet et Marisette.
105 years ago September 23, 1915 Golden and Silver Age artist Chuck Cuidera is born. He’s an early artist for Blue Beetle and the first artist for Blackhawk.
100 years ago September 20, 1920 Jay Ward is born. The animator produces shows featuring such characters as George of the Jungle and Rocky and Bullwinkle.
100 years ago September 20, 1920 Winnie Winkle by Martin Branner begins. It’s one of the first comic strips about working women.
80 years ago September 21, 1940 C.M. Payne’s S’Matter, Pop? ends.
80 years ago September 22, 1940 The French comics series Perlin et Pinpin by Maurice Cuvillier begins in Âmes Vallaintes.
75 years ago September 21, 1945 The William Randolph Hearst syndicate supervisor Moses Koenigsberg (after whom King Features Syndicate is named [Koenig=King]) dies of a heart attack at age 66.
65 years ago September 23, 1955 Writer-artist, editor, industry reporter, and researcher Robert J. Sodaro is born. He creates Girl Skout Wars and other comics.
65 years ago September 23, 1955 Artist Katharine P. Rice dies, age 76. She created the newspaper feature Flora Flirt.
60 years ago September 19, 1960 Artist Brad Moore is born. He’s known for his work on underground comix and horror connected and heavy metal connected fantasy art.
60 years ago September 22, 1960 Writer-artist and editor Richard Dominguez is born. He creates El Gato Negro, owns Azteca Productions, and co-founds (with Carlos Saldaña, Jose Martinez, and Fernando Rodriguez) the Professional Amigos of Comic Art Society.
55 years ago September 18, 1965 The British magazine Ranger (“the national boys’ magazine”) from IPC begins and introduces The Trigan Empire by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence.
55 years ago September 20, 1965 Moose by Bob Weber begins.
50 years ago September 24, 1970 Yoko Tsuno by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup makes its debut in Spirou.
45 years ago September 21, 1975 Craig Thompson is born. The award-winning writer-artist creates Good-Bye, Chunky RiceBlanketsHabibiSpace Dumplins.
35 years ago September 21, 1985 UKCAC begins. The first United Kingdom Comic Art Convention at the University of London is organized by Frank Plowright and Hassan Yussuf. (The last will be held in 1998.)
30 years ago September 20, 1990 Award-winning Italian artist Attilio Micheluzzi (who works as “Igor Arzt Bajeff”) dies at age 60. He created Johnny Focus and Simon Flash.
25 years ago September 22, 1995 Marvel and DC announce that their entire universes will cross over for the first time in a joint publishing project.
20 years ago September 20, 2000 Turkish-American artist Sururi Gümen dies at age 80. He created the comic strip Canbaba in Turkey and then worked on U.S. comic books and strips.
15 years ago September 21, 2005 Golden Age artist Mort Leav dies at age 89. He co-created Hillman’s The Heap and Skywolf.
10 years ago September 19, 2010 Writer-artist Stuart Hample dies at age 84. He was known for work on Rich & Famous and Robin Malone.