Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles and ends, this time for February 26 through March 3, 2016...

90 years ago March 1, 1926 Irwin Donenfeld is born. The DC editorial director and publisher is the son of DC founder Harry Donenfeld.

60 years ago February 29, 1956 Writer Wendi Lee is born.

60 years ago March 1, 1956 Christian Comic Arts Society member Ralph Ellis Miley is born.

60 years ago March 2, 1956 Artist Kevin Farrell is born.

40 years ago February 27, 1976 Super DC Con ’76 begins. Phil Seuling’s February 27-29 convention to celebrate Superman’s birthday is held at the Americana Hotel in New York City.

And here are the anniversaries spanning the month of March...

80 years ago March 1936 More Fun Comics #9 changes its size to that of standard comics, following an oversize run. Editor Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson explains the change in the issue’s introduction.

75 years ago March 1941 Captain America Comics #1 (from what is Marvel today) introduces Captain America and “young ally” Bucky Barnes in a story by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Al Liederman. The cover shows “Smashing thru, Captain America came face to face with Hitler.” Socko!

75 years ago March 1941 “64 Pages of New Captain Marvel Adventures” announces the cover of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures #1. The introductory story is by science fiction writer Manly Wade Wellman, and the series begins a year and a month after Whiz Comics #2, which introduced The Big Red Cheese to newsstands.

65 years ago March 1951 Marvel’s Mystic #1 contains “the most eerie stories ever told!” And, yeah, the cover-featured tale involves “The Strange Tree,” which has blood, instead of sap. Yik. “The tree will win in the end—You’ll never escape!” The anthology has four short comics stories plus a two-page text tale.

50 years ago March 1966 It’s self-defense, but, nevertheless, in DC’s Adventure Comics #342, The Legion of Super-Heroes expels Star Boy. “That’s no excuse, Star Boy! When you used this deadly weapon, you broke the Legion Code!” Gee whiz. Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan, Sheldon Moldoff, and George Klein tell the story of “The Legionnaire Who Killed!” Oh and hey! “The Boy Who Betrayed Clark Kent!” by Leo Dorfman and George Papp introduces Pete Ross. (Footnote: Superboy is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 149 pounds. In case you were wondering.)

50 years ago March 1966 DC’s The Doom Patrol #102 (by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani) wraps up the three-part crossover that began with #101 (by Drake and Premiani) and continued in Challengers of the Unknown #48 (by Drake and Bob Brown).

50 years ago March 1966 Having solved the problem of Maximus (who merely wanted to destroy all human beings), The Watcher breaks the news that there’s a bigger threat on the way in Marvel’s Fantastic Four #48. “The Coming of Galactus!” (and, yes, The Silver Surfer) means the stress never ends. Doggone! The story is by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Joe Sinnott. (Yeah, surfing was in. You hadda be there.)

50 years ago March 1966 The cover last month said it was Marvel’s Journey into Mystery with Thor #125. This month, with #126, the title becomes Thor. “Whom the Gods Would Destroy!” is by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Vince Colletta: a story pitting Thor against Hercules. Need we point out whose series this is? (But Spoiler! Odin is the kind of dad we could do without, so everything doesn’t go Thor’s way.)

50 years ago March 1966 It’s practically a full-blown essay on the cover of DC’s Green Lantern #43. And I quote: “If you think things are mixed up with Flash flying like Green Lantern and the Emerald Crusader running like the Scarlet Speedster—wait till you see the awful mess the two super-heroes get into when they try to stop … ‘The Catastrophic Crimes of Major Disaster!’ (The first Green Lantern-Flash story in three years—and well worth waiting for!)” The story is by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, and Sid Greene. Gotta love the character name.

50 years ago March 1966 “Nothing beats The Royal Flush Gang—not even The Justice League!” Mind you, it’s Ace of said RFG (introduced in the issue) that makes the claim in Justice League of America #43. Good thing [Spoiler!] Snapper Carr is on hand in the story by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs.

50 years ago March 1966 The Freak gets the cover of Marvel’s Tales of Suspense #75, but it’s the back-up Captain America story in which mercenary Batroc and Sharon Carter (also known as Agent 13) first appear. “30 Minutes to Live” is by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, and John Tartaglione.

45 years ago March 1971 Marvel’s Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #18 reprints stories from five years earlier and is the last issue. For a while.

45 years ago March 1971 It used to be Marvel’s Tower of Shadows. With #10, the series changes its name to Creatures on the Loose. “The Skull of Silence” features Robert E. Howard’s King Kull in a story by Roy Thomas and Bernie Wrightson.

45 years ago March 1971 Marvel’s Ka-Zar #3 is the last issue and is mostly reprints. (He’ll be back.)

45 years ago March 1971 In “The Saga of the DNAliens” by Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, and Murphy Anderson, the DNA-modified clone Dubbilex is introduced in DC’s Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #136.

40 years ago March 1976 Here’s the thing: Detective Comics #457 introduces Leslie Thompkins in “There Is No Hope in Crime Alley” by Denny O’Neil, Dick Giordano, and Terry Austin, which revisits Batman’s origin story. But what is a stunner for the fans is that the issue is one of the many that also mark the moment when DC raises its cover price for its regular titles from a quarter to 30 cents. Outrageous! Who can afford this allowance-buster?

40 years ago March 1976 In Marvel’s Daredevil #131, the psychopathic assassin Bullseye is introduced in a story by Marv Wolfman, Bob Brown, and Klaus Janson. “Bullseye never misses!” And, you’ll note, the series still has the cover price of a quarter. Hah! I knew we could depend on you, Marvel! You’ll never raise that price! (Well, not until the September 1976 issues, anyway. Sigh.)

40 years ago March 1976 Marvel Comics’ editor in chief post goes from Marv Wolfman to Gerry Conway to Archie Goodwin.

40 years ago March 1976 DC Super Stars #1 (reprints) and Four Star Spectacular #1 (reprints) begin.

40 years ago March 1976 DC’s Freedom Fighters #1 begins new stories of the Golden Age’s Black Condor, Uncle Sam, Doll Man, The Human Bomb, and Phantom Lady. This issue is by Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, Ric Estrada, and Mike Royer.

40 years ago March 1976 DC’s Karate Kid #1 brings the Legion character “smashing into our time!!” (the 20th century) in “My World Begins in Yesterday” by Paul Levitz, Ric Estrada, and Joe Staton.

40 years ago March 1976 Hey! Marvel’s Omega the Unknown #1 is “the most fantastic first issue of all!!” It says so on the cover! Yes, with two exclamation points! He’s “the last survivor of an alien world” in a story by Mary Skrenes, Steve Gerber, and Jim Mooney.

40 years ago March 1976 DC’s Tor #6 is the last issue of DC’s reprints of the Joe Kubert 1950s series from St. John.

40 years ago March 1976 Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu #38 introduces martial artist Shen Kuei (also known as “Cat”) in a story by Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, and Dan Adkins.

35 years ago March 1981 Marvel’s direct-only Dazzler #1 sells 400,000 copies. She first appeared a year earlier in Uncanny X-Men #130, but now she gets her own series in a direct-sales-distribution experiment that includes key characters as guests.

35 years ago March 1981 Marvel Preview magazine changes its name to Bizarre Adventures with #25 and features Black Widow, Lady Daemon, and Daughters of the Dragon on the cover.

35 years ago March 1981 “DC Proudly invites you to join in The 500th Anniversary Celebration of Detective Comics.” Well, no, it’s not the 500th anniversary, but it is #500, and the contents are cool—including one by Shadow writer Walter Gibson (especially appropriate, considering that Batman’s first story was inspired by a Shadow pulp magazine tale—just saying).

35 years ago March 1981 DC’s Mystery in Space #117 is the last issue of that science fiction anthology series.

35 years ago March 1981 “Featuring Etoain Shrdlu,” Weirdo #1 begins from Last Gasp, misspelling “Etaoin Shrdlu” (just saying) but offering lots of material from Robert Crumb.

35 years ago March 1981 DC’s House of Mystery #290 announces, “Beginning: an unforgettable new series … ‘I … Vampire!’” and introduces heroic vampire Andrew Bennett in a story by J.M. DeMatteis and Tom Sutton.

30 years ago March 1986 Marvel’s X-Factor #2 introduces Artie Maddicks, an X-Factor ward (who later becomes a ward of Generation X and interacts with other young supers, mutants, whatevers) in a story by Jackson Guice, Bob Layton, and Joe Rubinstein.

25 years ago March 1991 Marvel’s Epic line’s Stalkers #12 is the last issue. “Final Issue Forest Frolic!” says the cover; it features stories written by Jan Strnad and Mark Verheiden and drawn by Val Mayerik.

25 years ago March 1991 Marvel’s Darkhawk #1 kicks off with “Dawn of the Darkhawk!” The story is by Danny Fingeroth and Mike Manley and introduces Darkhawk and his family.

25 years ago March 1991 The Linear Men are introduced in DC’s Adventures of Superman #476. The members (including Rip Hunter) resolve time paradoxes. The story is by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding.

25 years ago March 1991 Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk #379 contains “Hit and Myth” by Peter David, Dale Keown, and Mark Farmer. It introduces Pantheon: Delphi, Ajax, and Hector.

25 years ago March 1991 Marvel’s The New Mutants #99 by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld features the departure of Sunspot and introduces Shatterstar and Feral.

20 years ago March 1996 DC’s Sandman ends with #75. “The Tempest” is by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess with thanks to Bryan Talbot and John Ridgway. Characters include William Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway, Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe.