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 May 15-21, 2020…
220 years ago May 21, 1800 Swedish caricaturist and autobiographical comics pioneer Carl August Ehrensvärd dies at age 55.
140 years ago May 15, 1880 Italian artist and editor Antonio Rubino is born.
130 years ago May 17, 1890 The first issue of the British comic book Comic Cuts is published.
115 years ago May 16, 1905 Award-winning cartoonist George Lichty is born. He creates Grin and Bear It.
110 years ago May 15, 1910 Artist Russell Keaton is born. The Dick Calkins assistant creates Flyin’ Jenny.
105 years ago May 21 1915 Cartoonist Don Trachte is born. He assists Carl Anderson on Henry and then works on the Sunday strip following Anderson’s death.
100 years ago May 21, 1920 Artist and teacher Lee Elias is born. With a career beginning in the Golden Age, he is especially known for his work on Black Cat and the comic strip Beyond Mars. He co-creates Eclipso with Bob Haney.
95 years ago May 16, 1925 German artist Hannes Hegen is born. He’s known for characters Dig, Dag, and Digedag.
85 years ago May 15, 1935 Turkish artist Sezgin Burak is born. He creates the series Tarkan and Kolosso.
80 years ago May 17, 1940 Fawcett’s Nickel Comics #1 introduces Bulletman and Bulletgirl in a story by Bill Parker and Jon Smalle. Other characters featured in the issue don’t hang around the Fawcett Universe that long.
75 years ago May 17, 1945 The Flemish newspaper De Zondagsvriend begins the children’s supplement De Kleine.
70 years ago May 18, 1950 Sen. Estes Kefauver announces formation of a Special Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce that will explore possible violations of postal laws by comic book publishers.
65 years ago May 19, 1955 Crimson Dreams writer-artist Frank Albanese is born.
60 years ago May 16, 1960 Writer-artist Chester Brown is born. Initially drawing fan attention with his Yummy Fur comics, he becomes known for his autobiographical comics and his biography of Louis Riel.
60 years ago May 16, 1960 Letterer Chuck Maly is born.
60 years ago May 18, 1960 Artist and animator James W. Fry is born. He co-creates The Liberty Project (with Kurt Busiek and Doug Hazlewood) and Slapstick (with Len Kaminski and Terry Austin).
55 years ago May 20, 1965 Artist Al Bigley is born.
55 years ago May 28, 1965 Inker Chad Hunt is born.
50 years ago May 16, 1970 Bongo Comics and Archie writer James W. Bates is born.
50 years ago May 19, 1970 Cartoonist Martin Branner dies at age 81. He created Winnie Winkle.
40 years ago May 20, 1980 Artist Mike Rote is born.
30 years ago May 16, 1990 Influential Muppets creator Jim Henson dies of a strep infection at age 58.
20 years ago May 18, 2000 British writer-artist, collector, convention organizer, and pop culture historian Denis Gifford dies at age 72.
10 years ago May 21, 2010 Animator, cartoonist, teacher, comic strip, and Golden and Silver Age comic book artist and writer Howard Post dies of Alzheimer’s complications at age 83. He created Anthro for DC and The Dropouts comic strip for United Features and also worked for Harvey on Spooky and Hot Stuff.
5 years ago May 17, 2015 French animator and artist Robert Bressy dies at age 90.
