Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for June 2-8, 2023...
135 years ago June 2, 1888 British artist William Giles Baxter, who continued Ally Sloper, dies of tuberculosis at age 32.
130 years ago June 5, 1893 Dutch artist Job Denijs is born.
130 years ago June 5, 1893 Ben Batsford is born. He’s the original artist on the Mortimer Snerd & Charlie McCarthy strip and draws comics for Sangor.
120 years ago June 2, 1903 Dutch artist Dorul Van Der Heide is born.
115 years ago June 4, 1908 Louis Forton’s “Les Pieds Nickelés” begins in L’Épatant.
110 years ago June 3, 1913 Lone Ranger artist and art teacher Tom Gill is born.
105 years ago June 2, 1918 The last episode of C.M. Payne’s Scary William is published.
105 years ago June 2, 1918 Cartoonist Ruth Atkinson is born. Also known as Ruth Atkinson Ford, the Fiction House artist and art director known for her Marvel work creates Millie the Model and co-creates Patsy Walker with Otto Binder.
100 years ago June 7, 1923 Polish artist Henryk Chmielewski (who works as “Papcio Chmiel”) is born.
100 years ago June 7, 1923 An obituary appears in the Mount Vernon Daily Argus for artist Syd B. Griffin, age 68, whose actual date of death is unclear.
95 years ago June 4, 1928 Big Sister by Les Forgrave begins.
90 years ago June 8, 1933 Award-winning Dutch artist Jan Kruis is born. Known for his family comics series Jan, Jans en de Kinderen, he founds the studio Jan Kruis Producties. He’s knighted in 1996, and The Jan Kruis Museum opens in 2019.
85 years ago June 2, 1938 French editor-writer-artist Louis Morin dies at age 82.
85 years ago June 5, 1938 Italian artist Massimo Belardinelli is born. His comics include material for Fleetway’s 2000 AD.
85 years ago June 6, 1938 Austrian artist Karl Theodor Zelger (who worked as “K.Th. Zelger”) dies at age 49.
80 years ago June 7, 1943 “Dealer McDope” underground comix creator Dave Sheridan is born. His output includes the design for the “Black Death Malt Liquor” shirt worn by “Dr. Johnny Fever” on WKRP in Cincinnati, and he collaborates (with Gilbert Shelton and Paul Mavrides) on The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
80 years ago June 8, 1943 Colin Baker is born, the sixth Doctor in TV’s Doctor Who, whose incarnation appears in comics stories.
75 years ago June 2, 1948 Colorist Barry Grossman is born. His career begins at Archie in 1961 and includes writing and editing.
70 years ago June 2, 1953 Writer-editor Dwight Jon Zimmerman is born.
65 years ago June 2, 1958 Artist Scott Rosema is born.
65 years ago June 4, 1958 Artist Josef Rubinstein is born. He sets what may be a record for inking the work of more pencillers than any other inker.
65 years ago June 6, 1958 Artist Greg Adams is born.
65 years ago June 6, 1958 Artist Arlen Schumer is born. Sherri Wolfgang and he are “The Dynamic Duo Inc.”
65 years ago June 7, 1958 Artist Joe Maneely dies in a fall between commuter train cars at age 32. He was known for his work for Atlas, where he co-created The Black Knight, The Ringo Kid, The Yellow Claw, and Jimmy Woo.
65 years ago June 8, 1958 Writer-editor-educator-publicist David Seidman is born. He is Disney Comics’ senior editor in the early 1990s.
60 years ago June 2, 1963 Writer-editor Joe Gentile is born. He owns the Amazing Fantasy comics shop chain and founds Moonstone Books.
55 years ago June 4, 1968 Award-winning cartoonist Steven Weissman is born. He’s especially known for his work on Yikes.
55 years ago June 7, 1968 Dutch artist Arie Emens dies at age 72.
50 years ago June 3, 1973 Artist Syd Shores dies of a heart attack at age 59. Known for his work on Captain America, the Golden Age and Silver Age artist began his career at the Chesler studio and went to Timely. He eventually became Marvel’s art director, then worked freelance.
40 years ago June 8, 1983 Belgian artist-writer-editor Jacques Van Melkebeke, one of the founders of Tintin, dies at age 78.
35 years ago June 6, 1988 German artist Willi Kohlhoff dies at age 82.
35 years ago June 7, 1988 Belgian writer Octave Joly dies at age 78. He wrote “Les Belles Histoires de l’Oncle Paul” for Spirou.
35 years ago June 7, 1988 Michael Cera is born. He plays Scott Pilgrim in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
30 years ago June 6, 1993 Artist Albert Micale dies at age 79. He was especially known for drawing Dell’s Roy Rogers comics.
20 years ago June 4, 2003 Spanish artist Serafín Rojo Caamaño dies at age 77 or 78.
20 years ago June 7, 2003 French writer-artist Georges Pichard dies at age 84. He was known for Ténébrax, Submerman, and erotic storytelling.
15 years ago June 5, 2008 Artist Pete Tumlinson, especially known for his work on Kid Colt, dies at age 87.
15 years ago June 6, 2008 The animated action comedy Kung Fu Panda opens from DreamWorks, grossing $20.3 million that day.
15 years ago June 7-8, 2008 Big Apple Comic Book, Art, Toy & Sci-Fi Expo I is held at Penn Plaza Pavilion in New York City.
15 years ago June 8, 2008 Italian artist and animator Vladimiro Missaglia (who worked as “Miro”) dies at age 75.
5 years ago June 2, 2018 Prolific writer-editor-teacher Nick Meglin dies of a heart attack at age 82. He was especially known for his work for Mad.
5 years ago June 3, 2018 Geppi’s Entertainment Museum closes. With exhibits focusing on the evolution of American popular entertainment, the facility took visitors from era to era and included a focus on comic books. Many of its exhibits are then donated to The Library of Congress.
