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 August 23-29, 2013…
100 years ago August 25, 1913 Animator, cartoonist, comic-strip artist-writer, and Pogo creator Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. is born.
95 years ago August 25, 1918 Dennis the Menace ghost artist Al Wiseman is born.
10 years ago August 28, 2003 Kitchen Sink Press editor in chief Dave Schreiner dies of Crohn’s Disease and cancer at age 56.
And for the month as a whole…
65 years ago August 1948 Marvel’s Venus #1 introduces Venus, “the most beautiful girl in the world.”
65 years ago August 1948 All-American Comics #100 introduces Johnny Thunder.
60 years ago August 1953 Comic-panel character Dennis the Menace first appears in comic books in Standard’s Dennis the Menace #1, with Al Wiseman drawing Hank Ketcham’s newspaper character and his family for their comic-book appearance.
60 years ago August 1953 Batman #78 introduces Roh Kar in “The Manhunter from Mars!” by Edmond Hamilton, Bob Kane, Lew Schwartz, and Charles Paris. Roh is a Martian Manhunter – but he’s not J’onn J’onzz.
50 years ago August 1963 “The legendary super-stars” of The Justice Society of America return to comics (“back after 12 years!”) in Justice League of America #21 in “Crisis on Earth-One!” by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs.
50 years ago August 1963 Doctor Strange comes “Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo!” when that foe is introduced in Strange Tales #111 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
45 years ago August 1968 Showcase #76 asks the question “Will he Save The West – or Ruin It?” when it introduces Bat Lash by Nick Cardy and Sergio Aragonés.
45 years ago August 1968 Adventure Comics #371 introduces The Chemical King.
45 years ago August 1968 Justice League of America #64 features “The Stormy Return of the Red Tornado!” by Gardner Fox, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. The story brings The Red Tornado to the Silver Age – with a difference. (We knew the Golden Age version as Ma Hunkle, after all.)
40 years ago August 1973 Incredible Hulk #166 introduces Zzzax in “The Destroyer from the Dynamo!” by Steve Englehart, Herb Trimpe, and Sal Trapani.
30 years ago August 1983 Warriors of Plasm #1 kicks off Defiant’s entry as a publisher, headed by Jim Shooter. “Metamorphosis” is by Jim Shooter, David Lapham, and Michael Witherby.
