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 February 28 through March 6, 2025…
205 years ago February 28, 1820 Artist John Tenniel is born. Although he provides political cartoons to Punch magazine for more than half a century, he’s best known for his illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. He may be the first cartoonist to be knighted.
145 years ago March 3, 1880 Dutch writer-artist-editor Cornelis Veth is born. He writes books about cartooning.
130 years ago February 28, 1895 Russian-Bulgarian artist Vadim Lazarkevich is born.
130 years ago March 4, 1895 Writer-artist Milt Gross is born. The writer and artist of comic strip, comic book, and animation entertainment produces such projects as Nize Baby, Count Screwloose, and That’s My Pop!
105 years ago March 3, 1920 Award-winning satirical cartoonist Ronald Searle is born. He creates “St. Trinian’s School” and designs the credits for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
100 years ago March 2, 1925 Australian artist Stanley Pitt is born. In addition to his Australian comics contributions, his science fiction and fantasy work appears in such DC series as The Witching Hour and such Gold Key series as Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery and The Twilight Zone.
95 years ago March 5, 1930 Artist Jean Tabary is born. He’s best known for co-creating Iznogoud with René Goscinny.
90 years ago March 2, 1935 French artist Jean-Paul Dethorey is born.
85 years ago February 28, 1940 Award-winning British artist Jim Baikie is born. He draws a variety of comics including “Skizz” (written by Alan Moore) for 2000 AD. His US work includes collaborations with such creators as Moore, Doug Moench, Tom Veitch, and Brian Augustyn.
85 years ago March 1, 1940 Robert Grossman is born. The creations of the award-winning writer-artist, animator, and filmmaker include work for Mad.
85 years ago March 2, 1940 Underground comix creator Spain Rodriguez is born. He creates Trashman and is one of the founders of the United Cartoon Workers of America.
85 years ago March 3, 1940 Belgian artist and animation producer Bob Vandersteen is born.
80 years ago March 1, 1945 Marmaduke Mouse by Ernie Hart begins.
80 years ago March 6, 1945 Dutch comics artist and publisher Robert Olaf Stoop is born. Lambiek says he is “creator of one of Europe’s first underground comix.”
75 years ago March 6, 1950 Artist-writer-editor Al Milgrom is born. He works for Marvel for years and co-creates DC’s Firestorm with Gerry Conway.
70 years ago March 3, 1955 Editor Joellyn Dorkin is born.
65 years ago February 29, 1960 The Family Circus by Bil Keane begins.
65 years ago March 6, 1960 Artist Gene Ahern dies of a heart attack at age 64. His characters included The Nut Brothers (Ches and Wal), and he created Our Boarding House and Room and Board.
55 years ago March 1, 1970 Editor-publisher Lloyd Jacquet dies at age 70. He founded Funnies, Inc.
55 years ago March 2, 1970 Conchy by James Childress begins.
50 years ago February 28, 1975 Swiss artist Robert Lips dies at age 62. He created the Globi comic strip.
50 years ago March 2, 1975 Spanish animator and artist Salvador Mestres dies at age 64.
45 years ago March 1, 1980 Artist Dick Dillin dies of a heart attack at age 51. He’s known for work on Blackhawk and The Justice League of America.
45 years ago March 1, 1980 Artist Leon A. Beroth dies at age 85. He created the Kitten Kaye strip and was known for his work on the Don Winslow of the Navy strip.
35 years ago March 4, 1990 Italian artist Salvatore Deidda dies at age 37.
30 years ago March 3, 1995 Marvel Entertainment Group announces that Heroes World will be its exclusive distributor beginning with comics shipping in July; this leads to the dissolving of the International Association for Direct Distribution, Inc.
25 years ago March 3, 2000 Belgian cartoonist and animator Nicole Van Goethem dies at age 58. He won the 1987 Academy Award for his seven-minute “A Greek Tragedy” cartoon.
20 years ago February 28, 2005 Italian artist Umberto Manfrin dies at age 77.
20 years ago March 5, 2005 The Independent Media Expo STAPLE! begins in Austin, Texas.
15 years ago March 6, 2010 Artist Don Sherwood dies at age 79. He created Marine hero Dan Flagg and produced a variety of such other work as the comic strips The Flintstones and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.
10 years ago March 4, 2015 Guinness World Records announces that Ken Bald is the oldest active comics artist in the world. (He’ll be announced on May 8, 2017, as breaking the record again.)
5 years ago March 2, 2020 Turkish artist Abdullah Turhan dies at age 87. Lambiek calls him “one of the leading artists of Turkish adventure comics.”
5 years ago March 2, 2020 Turkish artist and film producer Suat Yalaz dies at age 88. Lambiek calls him and Turhan “pioneering grandmasters of the historical adventure comic in Turkey.”
5 years ago March 4, 2020 New Zealand cartoonist Helen Courtney dies at age 67.
5 years ago March 4, 2020 Instructor and artist Frank McLaughlin dies two weeks before his 85th birthday. The Charlton art director and Judomaster co-creator (with Joe Gill) freelanced for Marvel, DC, Acclaim, and Broadway and drew several newspaper strips including Gil Thorpe.
5 years ago March 5, 2020 Prolific and award-winning French artist André Chéret dies at age 82. He was especially known for his creation of Rahan.
And here are the anniversaries spanning the month of March…
85 years ago March 1940 Fawcett’s Master Comics #1 is huge – and costs 15¢. The “World’s biggest comics book” has the first appearance of Master Man (“world’s greatest hero”) – although that feature doesn’t last for long. (Reports say that it was a lawsuit over his similarity to Superman that led to abandoning Master Man, who was “stronger than untamed horses – swifter than the raging winds – braver than mighty lions – wiser than wisdom, kind as Galahad.”)
85 years ago March 1940 Slam-Bang Comics #1 (Fawcett) cover-features “Diamond Jack and His Magic Gem.” (It won’t last as long as Master Comics. Just letting you know.)
85 years ago March 1940 The first comic book from Prize Publications is (yes) Prize Comics #1, “chock full of action.” It introduces Power Nelson the Future Man.
85 years ago March 1940 The first comic book from Sun Publications is Colossus Comics #1. Oh, and it’s the only issue of the “series.” It’s “All New All Complete!” and features Colossus A.D. 2640, Lucky Lucifer, Tulpa of Tsang, Lum Sims, Blond Garth, King of the Isles, “and others.” It also seems to be the only series from Sun Publications. OK, this won’t be on the final exam for 1940.
85 years ago March 1940 Marvel’s Mystic Comics #1 (“Every Feature Brand New!”) announces Dynamic Man, The Blue Blaze (“It was a million to one against The Blue Blaze,” the cover warns.), Dakor the Magician, and Flexo the Rubber Robot.
85 years ago March 1940 Fiction House’s Fight Comics tells the “two fisted adventures of men of action,” and #3 introduces Rip Regan the Power-Man in a story by Herman Bolstein and John Celardo.
85 years ago March 1940 Lev Gleason’s Silver Streak Comics #3 boasts of its contents: “Action! Mystery! Adventure!” It contains the first Lance Hale adventure, and “The Mystery of the Monstrous Fly” (drawn by Jack Binder) features the first appearance of “Speed Ace” Silver Streak.
85 years ago March 1940 The cover of DC’s Adventure Comics #48 says it: “Introducing In This Issue: The Hour-Man!” Somehow, the character’s name loses its hyphen between the cover and the origin story written by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily. “Miraclo” gives Rex Tyler superpowers.
70 years ago March 1955 Issues of some Dell titles carry the company’s “Pledge to Parents” – which appears just as other publishers’ comics are released with the Comics Magazine Association of America seal. “The Dell Trademark is, and always has been, a positive guarantee that the comic magazine bearing it contains only clean and wholesome juvenile entertainment. The Dell code eliminates entirely, rather than regulates, objectionable material. That’s why when your child buys a Dell comic you can be sure it contains only good fun. ‘DELL COMICS ARE GOOD COMICS’ is our credo and constant goal.”
70 years ago March 1955 DC’s Adventure Comics #210 features the first appearance of Krypto “The Superdog from Krypton!” Man, the dog is a pain. Superboy’s thought balloon notes, “Krypto thinks I’m playing a game with him – He’s fetching back the safe I just left at town hall!” Bad dog! Bad! The pup gets a hyphen between cover and contents. He’s a super-dog, baby Kal-El’s puppy, in a story by Otto Binder, Curt Swan, and Sy Barry. (By the way, do you think it’s a coincidence that Superboy gets a pet to play with as a potential story generator in the first Adventure issue that carries the Comics Code seal?)
70 years ago March 1955 If you look closely at the cover of EC’s Mad #21, a take-off on the Johnson Smith comics ads, you’ll spot a teeny image of Alfred E. Neuman, not known by name at this point. It is a first for the series; I wouldn’t note it, if it were the last.
70 years ago March 1955 “Introducing a ‘New Direction’ in Magazines – an entirely novel and unique kind of reading experience!” EC publishes the first issues of Extra!, Psychoanalysis, Valor, and Aces High. (M.D. #1 will be dated April 1955.)
70 years ago March 1955 “He shares his saddle with danger.” Bumpy ride? Marvel’s Rawhide Kid #1 is the first Rawhide Kid appearance; he’s drawn by Bob Brown and Joe Maneely.
70 years ago March 1955 Marvel’s Homer the Happy Ghost is introduced in (you guessed it) Homer, the Happy Ghost #1. It features a bunch of stories by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo.
65 years ago March 1960 Captain Allen Adam becomes Captain Atom in Charlton’s Space Adventures #33 in “Introducing Captain Atom” by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko.
65 years ago March 1965 Marvel’s Journey into Mystery #114 offers a downright chatty cover: “The start of another unforgettable super-epic! For the first time in recorded history, the titanic thunder god battles a deadly foe who has every bit of raw strength, every single superpower which Thor himself possesses! You’ll never forget this startling shocker!” “The Stronger I Am, the Sooner I Die!” is by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone – and Crusher Creel becomes The Absorbing Man. Thanks a bunch, Loki! (Oh, there’s also a cover plug: “The MMMS wants you!” How many will join?)
60 years ago March 1965 “Solomon Grundy Goes on a Rampage!” says the cover of DC’s Showcase #55, which teams Doctor Fate and Hourman and guest stars the Golden Age Green Lantern. The story by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson brings the Golden Age menace (Grundy, not Lantern) to the Silver Age.
60 years ago March 1965 Marvel’s Fantastic Four #36 introduces an “FF” team with a difference. The Frightful Four become a team, just as Reed Richards and Sue Storm announce their engagement in a story by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone. “Sooner or later someone was bound to come up with an evil group like this… so we thought we’d beat ’em to it!!”
60 years ago March 1965 “Unquestionably the most spectacular new character of the year!” (But he wasn’t exactly new. Just saying.) Marvel’s The X-Men #10 brings the Golden Age (and pulp magazine) character (created by Bob Byrd in 1936) Ka-Zar (plus Zabu) to the Silver Age in a story by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone.
55 years ago March 1970 In “A Penny for a Black Star,” DC’s Teen Titans #26 introduces Mal Duncan in a story by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy.
50 years ago March 1975 We knew that whole “Nomad” thing wasn’t going to last, right? In Marvel’s Captain America #183, Steve Rogers becomes Captain America again. “Nomad: No More!” is by Steve Englehart, Frank Robbins, and Frank Giacoia.
50 years ago March 1975 Here’s a new series from Atlas/Seaboard: Targitt #1 is the first (of three issues) and introduces Targitt in “Boston Tea Party” by Rick Meyers and Howard Nostrand.
45 years ago March 1980 Marvel Two-in-One #61 cover-features The Thing and Starhawk. But what is in that big cocoon? It’s Her! (You might think I should say, “It’s she!” But it’s the first appearance of Her – formerly Paragon.) The story is by Mark Gruenwald, Jerry Bingham, and Gene Day.
40 years ago March 1985 The first “volume” of Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe contains entries for characters from Abel to Auron. Len Wein and Marv Wolfman (aided and abetted by Peter Sanderson and E. Nelson Bridwell) did a heck of a lot of research.
40 years ago March 1985 Marvel begins Moonshadow by J.M. DeMatteis and Jon J. Muth. The pioneering limited series involves entirely painted art.
40 years ago March 1985 Marvel’s The Uncanny X-Men #191 introduces Nimrod. “Raiders of the Lost Temple” is by Chris Claremont, John Romita, Jr., and Dan Green.
35 years ago March 1990 Marvel’s The New Mutants #87 features the first full appearance of Cable in “A Show of Power!” by Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld, and Bob Wiacek.
35 years ago March 1990 Marvel’s Silver Surfer #35 resurrects Drax the Destroyer, and the focus is on Thanos in the story by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, and Tom Christopher.
35 years ago March 1990 DC’s The Atlantis Chronicles begins. “Chapter One: The Deluge” is by Peter David and Esteban Maroto and deals with what led up to the sinking of Atlantis.
30 years ago March 1995 The Power of Shazam! begins as an ongoing series with “Things Change” in #1 by Jerry Ordway, Peter Krause, and Mike Manley. It follows the success of Ordway’s graphic novel of the same name and reintroduces a bunch of Fawcett characters to DC continuity.
30 years ago March 1995 Tekno-Comix begins Leonard Nimoy’s PriMortals #1. Nimoy developed the series idea after visiting SETI, and “Escape to Earth” is by Kate Worley, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Scot Eaton, and Mike Barreiro.
30 years ago March 1995 X-Man begins from Marvel with “Breaking Away” by Jeph Loeb, Steve Skroce, Mike Sellers, Cam Smith, Bud LaRose, and Kevin Conrad. It introduces Nate Grey.
25 years ago March 2000 Super Manga Blast! begins from Dark Horse, cover-featuring a translated “Oh My Goddess!” story by Kōsuke Fujishima.
10 years ago March 2015 Marvel kicks off its new Star Wars series with 72 different covers. The story is by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday.
10 years ago March 2015 Marvel releases The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 with a story by Ryan North and Erica Henderson.
10 years ago March 2015 A variant cover of DC’s The Flash (2011 series) #38 celebrates the series’ 75th anniversary with a tribute to Flash #123’s “Flash of Two Worlds.”
10 years ago March 2015 Marvel’s Ant-Man #1 gets a total of eight covers with a story by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas. It might have a bit to do with the run-up to the summer release of the Ant-Man film starring Paul Rudd. Just a thought.
5 years ago March 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic hits the comics industry, leading to cancellation of a number of events throughout the remainder of the year.
5 years ago March 2020 First Second publishes Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang. It will win the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17).
5 years ago March 2020 It says it’s Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy #1 – but we know it’s actually #163, right? Anyway, “Then It’s Us” (featuring Nova building a new team) is by Al Ewing and Juann Cabal.
5 years ago Marvel 2020 It says it’s Marvel’s Thor #1 – but we know it’s actually #727, right? Anyway, there are lots of variant covers for the first part of “The Devourer King” by Donny Cates and Nic Klein.
5 years ago March 2020 Well, Marvel did have earlier first issues of Star Wars, but here’s the start of a new series. The first part of “The Destiny Path” is by Charles Soule and Jesús Saiz.
5 years ago March 2020 Hee! DC numbered the previous issue as Wonder Woman #83 – but now it resumes the actual numbering with Wonder Woman #750. (Variant covers? You betcha!) Its 100 pages contain a bunch of stories to celebrate.
