Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for January 20-26, 2023...
205 years ago January 26, 1818 Prolific French satiric artist Charles Amédée de Noé is born. He works as “Cham” and is called one of the first significant French comics artists.
155 years ago January 26, 1868 L’Éclipse begins. The French magazine features cartoons and comics.
145 years ago January 25, 1878 Italian artist Attilio Mussino is born.
140 years ago January 23, 1883 Artist and engraver Paul Gustave Doré dies at age 51.
135 years ago January 22, 1888 Animator, writer-artist, and teacher Win Smith is born. He’s the second artist to draw the Mickey Mouse comic strip, he creates Penguin Pete and Looney Luke, and he’s one of the first comic book artists to draw Bugs Bunny for Dell.
135 years ago January 24, 1888 Artist Neysa McMein, noted for drawing comic strip Deathless Deer, is born.
130 years ago January 22, 1893 Prolific British artist Walter Bell is born.
125 years ago January 23, 1898 Richard F. Outcault’s The Yellow Kid ends.
110 years ago January 26, 1913 Orville Peter Williams’ Gasoline Gus begins.
105 years ago January 25, 1918 Artist William Steinigans dies at age 39. His comic strips included The Bad Dream That Made Bill a Better Boy.
100 years ago January 20, 1923 John McLusky is born. He’s the first artist of Ian Fleming’s James Bond comic strip.
100 years ago January 21, 1923 Bulgarian teacher and artist Petar Grigorov is born.
100 years ago January 25, 1923 Bob Heinz is born. The German writer-artist creates Pif und Alf and Jan Maat among many others.
95 years ago January 20, 1928 Award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and painter Mauro Malang Santos is born. Lambiek says he is the first Philippine cartoonist to publish his comics in English.
85 years ago January 20, 1938 French artist and animated film pioneer and director Émile Cohl dies at age 81. Lambiek says he created the first fully animated cartoon (“Fantasmagorie” in 1908) and was also the first to adapt a comic strip into an animated film series.
85 years ago January 24, 1938 Five years after her introduction in Fritzi Ritz by Ernie Bushmiller, Nancy meets Sluggo.
85 years ago January 25, 1938 Shotaro Ishinomori is born. The award-winning manga and anime artist creates such series as Cyborg 009, Super Sentai, and Kamen Rider. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most comics published by one creator.
80 years ago January 24, 1943 Male Call by Milton Caniff begins.
75 years ago January 24, 1948 Biffo the Bear by Dudley D. Watkins begins in The Beano.
75 years ago January 26, 1948 Rusty Riley begins from King Features, created and drawn by Frank Godwin and written by Rod Reed.
70 years ago January 23, 1953 French writer-artist Raymond de la Nezière dies at age 87.
70 years ago January 23, 1953 Dutch artist and teacher Albert Hahn Jr. dies at age 58.
70 years ago January 25, 1953 Writer John Lustig is born. He’s especially known for work on Duck stories and for rescripting romance comics panels (collected in Last Kiss).
65 years ago January 21, 1958 Writer-artist Bill Riling is born. His work includes production of Disney comics.
65 years ago January 22, 1958 Editor-writer Howard Mackie is born. He contributes to comics including Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, X-Factor, and The Ravagers.
65 years ago January 23, 1958 Bulgarian political cartoonist Ilia Beshkov dies at age 56.
65 years ago January 24, 1958 Spanish writer-artist Alfredo Pons is born.
60 years ago January 22, 1963 Jerry Craft is born. He writes and draws the 2020 Newbery Medal-winning New Kid and creates the New Boyz comic strip.
60 years ago January 26, 1963 The Boys’ World British comics magazine begins.
55 years ago January 20, 1968 Comics marketer, reporter, business analyst, and editor Marc Patten is born.
55 years ago January 20, 1968 Writer-artist Gerry Alanguilan is born. The founder of The Komiks Museum in San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines, creates the Elmer comic book and is credited with originating the term “Komikero.”
55 years ago January 22, 1968 French cartoonist Yvan Francis Le Louarn (who worked as “Chaval”) dies by suicide at age 52 after the death of his wife.
50 years ago January 25, 1973 Award-winning writer, retailer (co-owner of Earth-2 Comics), and film and TV producer Geoff Johns is born. He becomes DC Comics Chief Creative Officer in 2010.
35 years ago January 25, 1988 Movie star Colleen Moore dies of cancer, apparently at age 88 (although she said she was born in 1902). She played Ella Cinders in the film adaptation of the strip by Bill Conselman and Charles Plumb.
30 years ago January 20, 1993 Cartoonist Shunji Sonoyama dies at age 57. He created Hajime Ningen Gyatoruzu and Hana no Kakaricho.
30 years ago January 23, 1993 Wendy and Richard Pini launch the Elfquest ’93 tour at the Great Eastern Convention in New York City.
20 years ago January 20, 2003 French artist and teacher Moïse Depond (who worked as “Mose”) dies at age 85.
20 years ago January 20, 2003 Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld dies at age 99.
20 years ago January 22, 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning political and World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin dies of complications of Alzheimer’s disease and scalding at age 81.
5 years ago January 20, 2018 British artist Bob Wakelin (who contributed to Marvel comics) dies at age 65 or 66 from aplastic anemia.
5 years ago January 24, 2018 Belgian artist Marc Ratal dies at age 95.
5 years ago January 24, 2018 Award-winning Dutch artist Jan Steeman dies of kidney failure at age 84. He drew the Noortje strip written by Patty Klein, which ran more than 40 years; Wiki says that made it the longest running Dutch comic strip by the same artist.
5 years ago January 25, 2018 Swedish artist Torvald Sundbaum dies at age 89.
