Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles and ends, this time for February 5-11, 2016...

75 years ago February 5, 1941 Writer-editor Marty Pahls is born.

70 years ago February 9, 1946 Artist Danny Bulanadi is born.

70 years ago February 11, 1946 Jim Bradrick is born. The writer-artist is known for his work on “Wacky Squirrel.”

60 years ago February 9, 1956 Award-winning artist-writer and teacher Timothy Truman is born. He’s known for his creation of Scout, co-creation of Grimjack (with John Ostrander), and revamps (with Joe R. Lansdale) of Jonah Hex, Airboy, and The Heap.

55 years ago February 8, 1961 Bruce Timm is born. The award-winning writer-artist, animator, and producer is known for his work in adapting the DC universe to animated-cartoon form and for co-creating (with Paul Dini) Harley Quinn.

50 years ago February 5, 1966 IPC’s Smash! #1 offers, “Free inside! The gun with the big bang!” (Don’t be scared. It’s a noise-maker that makes the bang by popping folded paper.) It cover-features a bunch of naughty boys rampaging outside a school, whose teachers say, “We’re not letting them into school with those horrible banging guns!”

50 years ago February 7, 1966 Writer-editor Paul Castiglia is born.

50 years ago February 10, 1966 Writer-editor Brent Frankenhoff is born. He’s known for his work on Comics Buyer’s Guide and Standard Catalog of Comic Books.

20 years ago February 6, 1996 Writer-artist Boody Rogers dies at age 91. He created Sparky Watts and Babe.

15 years ago February 7, 2001 Actress Dale Evans dies of congestive heart failure at age 88. Her roles in Westerns led to licensing her name and image in comics series from DC and Dell.