Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for February 14-20, 2020...
155 years ago February 14, 1865 Cartoonist Carl Anderson is born. He creates the Henry panel cartoon and creates “how to” manuals for would-be cartoonists.
125 years ago February 17, 1895 New York World prints Richard Outcault’s “Fourth Ward Brownies,” introducing The Yellow Kid to newspapers.
115 years ago February 17, 1905 The artist of the Dutch feature Sjors van de Rebellenclub, Frans Piet, is born.
110 years ago February 15, 1910 Animator and artist Reuben Timmins is born. His comic book work includes Laurel and Hardy stories.
100 years ago February 14, 1920 Austrian artist Hans Schliessman dies at age 68.
100 years ago February 17, 1920 Artist Curt Swan is born. Especially noted for his Superman work in the Silver Age, he even helps Superman solve a case in 1983 in “I Flew with Superman.”
95 years ago February 14, 1925 Spadger’s XI by S.K. Perkins begins.
95 years ago February 17, 1925 Award-winning German-Dutch political cartoonist Fritz Behrendt is born.
85 years ago February 14, 1935 Cartoonist Vernon Grant is born. Influenced by manga, he’s known for A Monster Is Loose in Tokyo and for the science fiction series The Love Rangers.
85 years ago February 17, 1935 King of the Royal Mounted by Stephen Slesinger begins.
75 years ago February 15, 1945 Derrill Rothermich is born. He’s the third editor of the pioneering comics fanzine The Comic Reader.
70 years ago February 15, 1950 “Greatest since Snow White,” say the posters for Walt Disney’s Cinderella when it opens, describing it as “a love story with music.”
70 years ago February 18, 1950 The writer-artist of Zolastraya and the Bard, Terry Echterling, is born.
70 years ago February 20, 1950 Big Ben Bolt by Elliot Caplin and John Cullen Murphy begins.
65 years ago February 14, 1955 Marvel Vice-President of New Product Development Carol Kalish is born. Her influential career involves a wide variety of industry support as writer, editor, retailer, and Marvel direct market sales manager.
65 years ago February 15, 1955 Cartoonist and caricaturist David N. Boyer is born. He creates the Bippies comic strip.
65 years ago February 15, 1955 Jeff Hawke by Sydney Jordan begins.
65 years ago February 16, 1955 Professor and writer Len Strazewski is born. He works on such characters as Flash and Speed Racer and co-creates Prime (with Norm Breyfogle, Bob Jacob, and Gerard Jones).
60 years ago February 16, 1960 British artist and teacher Norman Pett dies at age 68. He created Jane.
60 years ago February 18, 1960 Writer-artist Jay Allen Sanford is born. He co-founds Revolutionary Comics and Carnal Comics.
60 years ago February 19, 1960 Writer-artist Jim Lawson is born. He’s known for work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Planet Racers.
60 years ago February 20, 1960 Writer-artist Dave Roberts is born. He’s known for work on such titles as FemForce and Mantra.
55 years ago February 14, 1965 Magazine editor Joyce Greenholdt is born. Her work appears in Comics Buyer’s Guide and other collector publications.
55 years ago February 15, 1965 Wee Pals by Morrie Turner begins.
50 years ago February 14, 1970 The British comic book The Wizard is revived.
50 years ago February 18, 1970 British artist Jim Holdaway dies of a heart attack at age 42. He co-created Modesty Blaise with Peter O’Donnell.
45 years ago February 20, 1975 Marvel letterer Artie Simek dies at age 59.
25 years ago February 19, 1995 Belgian cartoonist Paul Jamin dies at age 83.
20 years ago February 18, 2000 Marvel CEO Peter Cuneo announces that Marvel is hiring Fleer President Bill Jemas to fill the new position President of Publishing & New Media.
20 years ago February 18, 2000 Artist Steven Hughes dies of cancer at age 46. He drew for the Chaos! line of comics.
20 years ago February 18, 2000 Prolific Belgian writer-artist Willy Maltaite dies at age 72. Working as “Will,” he was one of the founders of the “School of Marcinelle” and was especially noted for his work on Tif et Tondu.
20 years ago February 19, 2000 Artist George Roussos dies of a heart attack at age 84. Also signing as George Bell, he began his career working on Batman in the Golden Age and worked on a variety of features for a number of publishers over the years, including inking some of Jack Kirby’s Silver Age work.
20 years ago February 20, 2000 Comic strip writer Elliott Caplin dies at age 86. The co-creator (with Stan Drake) of The Heart of Juliet Jones also co-created Peter Scratch and Big Ben Bolt. The younger brother of Al Capp founded comics publisher Toby Press (1949-1955).
15 years ago February 15, 2005 Israeli cartoonist Dudu Geva dies of a heart attack at age 54.
10 years ago February 16, 2010 Pop culture expert and historian Jim Harmon dies of a heart attack at age 76.
10 years ago February 18, 2010 Jim Lee and Dan DiDio become DC co-publishers, and Geoff Johns is named DC Comics Chief Creative Officer.
10 years ago February 19, 2010 Artist Jerry Grandenetti dies at age 83 of cardiopulmonary arrest in the course of metastatic cancer. He was especially known for his work on The Spirit and on DC war comics, was co-creator (with Joe Simon) of Prez, and originated images copied by Roy Lichtenstein.
5 years ago February 16, 2015 British artist Brett Ewins dies of carcinomatosis at age 59. Known for his work for 2000 AD, he launched Deadline with Steve Dillon.
5 years ago February 19, 2015 French writer Talus Taylor dies at age 81 or 82. He co-created Barbapapa with his wife, Annette Tison.
5 years ago February 20, 2015 French composer Gérard Calvi dies at age 92. He provided scores for three Astérix films.
