Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for June 19-25, 2026…

195 years ago June 24, 1831 George Goodger publishes Gallery of 140 Comicalities, a magazine that contains drawings in narrative sequences.

130 years ago June 21, 1896 Artist Bob McKay is born. The son of Winsor McCay models for Little Nemo and as an adult forms the McCay Feature Syndicate.

110 years ago June 19, 1916 Writer, editor, and artist Mick Anglo is born. He creates Marvelman.

110 years ago June 21, 1916 Jack Sparling is born. The artist on Hap Hopper, Claire Voyant, and many comic books co-creates Tiger Girl with Jerry Siegel.

110 years ago June 21, 1916 Artist Tony Abruzzo is born. He specializes in DC’s romance titles.

110 years ago June 22, 1916 Swiss artist Pericle Luigi Giovannetti is born. He creates cartoons featuring the marmot Max.

90 years ago June 22, 1936 Writer-artist, editor, and Turkish animation pioneer Oguz Aral is born.

90 years ago June 23, 1936 Award-winning Belgian art curator, creator, and teacher Jan Joet is born.

85 years ago June 21, 1941 Jungle Girl, the Republic serial starring Frances Gifford as Nyoka, opens. (Nyoka will get her own series from Fawcett.)

75 years ago June 21, 1951 The radio show Straight Arrow ends on the West Coast Don Lee Network; its first comic book adaptation was Magazine Enterprise’s Straight Arrow, starting in February 1950, and comics-connected material included inserted “Injun-uity” cards produced by Fred L. Meagher for Nabisco Shredded Wheat.

70 years ago June 22, 1956 Cartoonist Kevin Fagan is born. He creates Drabble.

70 years ago June 22, 1956 Writer and letterer Susan Barrows is born. She’s known for work with Wayne Vansant on Katusha and is sometimes known by her SubGenius ID of “Reverend Susie the Floozie.”

70 years ago June 22, 1956 Writer Paul Simione is born.

65 years ago June 21, 1961 Artist Barry D. Petersen is born.

65 years ago June 22, 1961 Artist Bill Jaaska is born. He’s especially known for work on Sable, The New Titans, and The Terminator: Hunters and Killers.

60 years ago June 25, 1966 The British Look and Learn magazine absorbs Ranger.

55 years ago June 22, 1971 Fantagraphics editor, cartoonist, and writer Eric Reynolds is born.

55 years ago June 23, 1971 Spanish writer-artist and animator Marc Alberich is born.

50 years ago June 19, 1976 Animator and artist Mike Arens dies at age 60. He started his career at Disney and drew many Dell comics as well as the daily Scamp newspaper strip.

50 years ago June 25, 1976 British artist Mike Hubbard dies at age 74. He worked for Amalgamated Press and adapted such novels as Treasure Island into a comics format. He assisted on and then took over the Jane comic strip.

50 years ago June 25, 1976 Award-winning song writer, composer, and singer Johnny Mercer dies of a brain tumor at age 66. He collaborated on the 1956 Broadway musical Li’l Abner, based on Al Capp’s comic strip.

45 years ago June 19, 1981 Award-winning German animator and director Lotte Reiniger dies at age 82. She was a pioneer of silhouette animation and came up with an early form of the multiplane camera.

40 years ago June 21, 1986 French writer-artist Gaston Martineau (who worked as “Aldé”) died at age 61. His main character was M. Mistouflet.

40 years ago June 23, 1986 Dutch artist-teacher Lex Metz dies at age 73.

40 years ago June 23, 1986 Hungarian athlete-writer-artist Béla Szepes dies at age 82.

35 years ago June 21, 1991 Walt Disney Pictures’ film The Rocketeer opens, starring Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord (the hero of the comic book series created, written, and drawn by Dave Stevens).

30 years ago June 19, 1996 Artist Curt Swan dies at age 76. Best known for his Superman work in the Silver Age, he even helped Superman solve a case in “I Flew with Superman” in 1984.

25 years ago June 22, 2001 Artist George Evans dies at age 81. He was best known in comics for his World War I aviation stories for EC’s Aces High.

20 years ago June 24, 2006 Publisher-writer Lyle Stuart dies at age 83. The EC business manager was the founder of the Lyle Stuart, Inc. publishing company.

15 years ago June 23, 2011 Artist Gene Colan dies at age 84 from complications of liver disease and a broken hip. His work included Avengers, Daredevil, Tomb of Dracula, and Batman, and he co-created Falcon with Stan Lee and Blade with Marv Wolfman.

15 years ago June 24, 2011 Cars 2 opens from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios.

10 years ago June 19, 2016 Argentine-Brazilian artist Rodolfo Zalla dies at age 84. He was founder of the publisher D-Arte Ltda.

10 years ago June 25, 2016 Award-winning Austrian writer-artist Manfred Deix dies at age 67.