Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for June 28 through July 4, 2024...

150 years ago July 3, 1874 Artist-writer Margaret G. Hayes is born. The creator of Jennie and Jack collaborates with her sister Grace Drayton on projects including The Turr’ble Tales of Kaptin Kiddo.

135 years ago July 3, 1889 Cuban artist Eduardo Abela is born. He creates El Bobo.

115 years ago June 28, 1909 Frans Van Immerseel is born. The Belgian artist is known for De Lotgevallen van Janssens.

115 years ago July 4, 1909 Early French artist Manon Iessel is born. She draws the Capucine series.

110 years ago July 2, 1914 Writer-artist Hannes Bok is born (as Wayne Francis Woodard). He is especially known for the art he contributes to science fiction and fantasy magazines.

105 years ago June 30, 1919 Dutch artist and animator Piet van Elk is born.

95 years ago July 1, 1929 Artist, animator, director, and Filmation cofounder Hal Sutherland is born.

90 years ago June 28, 1934 French writer-artist-editor Georges Wolinski is born. He co-founds L’Enragé (with Jean-Jacques Pauvert and Siné).

90 years ago June 29, 1934 Dutch artist, entrepreneur, and publisher Joop Wiggers is born.

85 years ago June 28, 1939 Belgian artist Joz De Swerts dies at age 49.

85 years ago July 4, 1939 Louis Wain, a British artist known for his cat cartoons, dies at age 78.

80 years ago June 28, 1944 Skeezix marries Nina Clock in Frank King’s Gasoline Alley strip.

80 years ago June 28, 1944 Writer-artist Philippe Druillet is born. Best known for Lone Sloane, he co-founds (with Bernard Farkas, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, and Moebius) Les Humanoïdes Associés and Métal Hurlant.

80 years ago July 1, 1944 Hilda Terry’s Teena begins.

75 years ago July 1, 1949 Writer Mike Baron is born. He co-creates Nexus with Steve Rude and creates Badger.

70 years ago June 28, 1954 Award-winning Belgian writer-artist Benoît Sokal is born.

70 years ago June 29, 1954 Artist, teacher, and storyboarder Bo Hampton is born.

70 years ago July 2, 1954 Manga translator Dana Lewis is born.

70 years ago July 3, 1954 Inker Arne Starr is born.

65 years ago July 2, 1959 Artist Rudolph Frederick Schabelitz dies at age 74 or 75.

65 years ago July 3, 1959 Award-winning writer Ian Maxtone-Graham is born. He is co-executive producer and consulting producer of The Simpsons.

60 years ago July 1, 1964 Tom Poston [the inker, not the actor] is born.

60 years ago July 1, 1964 Italian artist and editor Antonio Rubino dies at age 84.

55 years ago June 28, 1969 The last installment of Grandma by Charles Kuhn is published.

55 years ago July 4, 1969 Inker Mark Irwin is born.

55 years ago July 4-6, 1969 The first comic art convention put on by Phil Seuling is held at the Statler Hilton in New York City, following a convention there the year before.

45 years ago June 30, 1979 Comic Art Convention I begins at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York City. (Yes, it is clearly not the first convention devoted to comics.) It runs June 30-July 1.

45 years ago July 4, 1979 Artist and musician Pagsilang Rey Isip dies at age 68 from a heart attack. He drew comics for the Iger Studio.

40 years ago June 28, 1984 Pete Costanza dies at age 71. The artist’s work included Fawcett’s Captain Marvel comics and ACG’s Magicman.

40 years ago June 30, 1984 The British comic Scream! ends with #15 and will merge with Eagle.

35 years ago June 28, 1989 Flemish comics magazine De Jommekeskrant begins as a supplement of Het Volk.

35 years ago June 29, 1989 French artist Mathieu Laville dies in a car accident at age 28.

30 years ago June 28, 1994 Award-winning animator, voice artist, and comics artist Richard Bickenbach dies at age 86. His work included art for Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera.

30 years ago July 4, 1994 Harvey Comics founder Alfred Harvey dies at age 80. His credits included Little Dot and Richie Rich.

25 years ago July 3, 1999 Dutch artist Wim van Wieringen dies at age 83. He was especially known for his political caricatures and Simpelman strip.

20 years ago July 2, 2004 Award-winning artist John Cullen Murphy dies at age 85. He was known for his work on Big Ben Bolt and for taking over the Prince Valiant comic strip following Hal Foster.

15 years ago July 3, 2009 British artist Martin Vaughn-James dies at age 65.

10 years ago June 30, 2014 Actor Bob Hastings dies of prostate cancer at age 89. Among his performances as a voice artist were Archie Andrews on radio and Commissioner Jim Gordon on Batman: The Animated Series.

10 years ago July 1, 2014 Artist and publisher Frank Cummings dies of pancreatic cancer at age 54. In addition to his Brain Squirts strip, he worked on the Blondie strip.

5 years ago June 28, 2019 Award-winning Danish-Canadian artist, teacher, and animator Kaj Pindal dies at age 91. He created the award-winning “Peep and the Big Wide World” (1988) for the National Film Board of Canada.

5 years ago June 30, 2019 Spanish writer-artist Armando Salas Martinez dies at age 73.

5 years ago June 30, 2019 Award-winning Argentine cartoonist and animator Guillermo Mordillo dies at age 86.

5 years ago July 3, 2019 It’s announced that Mad won’t publish original material from August on and won’t be available on general newsstands.

And here are the anniversaries spanning the month of July…

90 years ago July 1934 The first newsstand comic book, Famous Funnies, begins with #1. Published by Eastern Color, it features Mutt and Jeff as focal characters on the cover and contains reprints of such other newspaper strips as The Bungle Family, The Nebbs, Connie, and Tailspin Tommy.

85 years ago July 1939 Fox’s Wonderworld Comics #3 introduces The Flame by Will Eisner and Lou Fine.

85 years ago July 1939 “Here he is!” Centaur’s Amazing Mystery Funnies v2#7 introduces Fantom of the Fair in a story by Paul Gustavson. (That’s the World’s Fair, by the way.)

85 years ago July 1939 DC’s Adventure Comics #40 announces on the cover, “Starting this issue: The daring exploits of The Sandman!” He has one of the most colorful outfits: red suit, yellow gloves, green tie and hat, purple cape – and wow! A gas mask! (It wasn’t the guy we think of more often today. Just saying.) Wesley Dodds is introduced in a story by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman.

85 years ago July 1939 Batman’s utility belt is introduced in DC’s Detective Comics #29. “The Batman Meets Doctor Death” is by Gardner Fox and Bob Kane.

75 years ago July 1949 Marvel’s Captain America Comics ends with #73; it will be renamed Captain America’s Weird Tales and run for two more issues.

60 years ago July 1964 “Samson uses his stupendous strength to battle fantastic creatures in a primitive world of the future!” Gold Key’s Mighty Samson #1 introduces Mighty Samson in post-nuclear New York in stories by Otto Binder and Frank Thorne.

60 years ago July 1964 “Wow!! Just wait till you see ‘The Green Goblin!’ ” The cover of Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man #14 goes on to ask, “Does The Green Goblin look cute to you? Does he make you want to smile?” And … “Well, forget it! He’s the most sinister, most dangerous foe Spidey’s ever fought!” Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduce the character who will turn out to be (Spoiler!) Norman Osborn.

60 years ago July 1964 “Introducing Zemo! and his Masters of Evil!” says the cover of The Avengers #6 about a story by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone.

60 years ago July 1964 Charlton’s “America’s Super Squad!” is Fightin’ Five, first appearing in (yes) Fightin’ Five #28. No, there isn’t a Fightin’ Five #1-27; the series picks up its numbering from Space War. The cover features Hank Hennessy, Irv “The Nerve” Haganah, Granite Gallero, Frenchy the Fox, and Tom-Tom, and the story is by Joe Gill, Bill Montes, and Ernie Bache.

55 years ago July 1969 “Enter … the man called Havok!” in Marvel’s The X-Men #58. Alex Summers has been around before, but what a cool costume! “Mission: Murder!” is by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, and Tom Palmer.

55 years ago July 1969 Future host of House of Secrets Abel is introduced in DC Special #4, based on co-creator (with Bill Draut) Mark Hanerfeld.

50 years ago July 1974 DC’s in-house fanzine The Amazing World of DC Comics launches with features on Joe Kubert, Superman on TV, comic book creation, and the like.

50 years ago July 1974 What? Another herald of Galactus? Doggone! “Surely, then – The Earth is doomed!!” Marvel’s Thor #225 introduces Firelord in a story by Gerry Conway, John Buscema, and Joe Sinnott.

50 years ago July 1974 Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man introduces Tarantula in #134. The story is “Danger Is a Man Named … Tarantula” and it’s by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia, and Dave Hunt. (Tarantula says, “My touch means death!” Yikes. Spidey says he’s not kidding.) (By the way, Tarantula was the villain in that Sandman intro story 35 years earlier. (See above.) Different guy, though. Because spiders. Just saying.)

50 years ago July 1974 Marvel’s Sgt. Fury #120 wraps up the series. (Don’t panic. Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos will continue the numbering with #121, dated September 1974.)

50 years ago July 1974 Marvel releases giant-size first issues Giant-Size Creatures Featuring Werewolf and Giant-Size Defenders.

45 years ago July 1979 Are Blok and others in the League of Super-Assassins (introduced in the issue) coming to join the Legion in DC’s Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #253? “No, Superboy – We’ve not come to join – we’ve come to destroy you all!” Eek. “Night of the Super-Assassins!” is by Gerry Conway, Joe Staton, and Frank Chiaramonte. Gee whiz. Nobody was going to ask them to pay membership dues.

45 years ago July 1979 The cover and the story title of Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man #194 advise, “Never Let the Black Cat Cross Your Path!” Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, and Frank Giacoia introduce her.

45 years ago July 1979 World of Krypton #1 (of 3) from DC might be the first official limited comic book series. It’s by Paul Kupperberg, Alan Kupperberg, Howard Chaykin, and Murphy Anderson.

45 years ago July 1979 Marvel’s Godzilla series wraps it up with #24, with a cover featuring The Big G stomping off into hibernation. The story is by Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe, and Dan Green.

40 years ago July 1984 Archie wraps up Steel Sterling with #7.

40 years ago July 1984 “The Martian Manhunter Is Back!” That’s what the cover of DC’s Justice League of America #228 says – and, yes, The Martian Manhunter is reintroduced in “War – of the World?” by Gerry Conway, George Tuska, and Alex Niño.

40 years ago July 1984 In “There Shall Come a Titan” by Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, Dick Giordano, and Mike DeCarlo in DC’s Tales of the Teen Titans #44, Dick Grayson takes the name Nightwing for the first time.

35 years ago July 1989 DC’s Piranha Press introduces Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children. “A Cotton Candy Autopsy” is by Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman.

35 years ago July 1989 “Great Lakes Avengers Assemble?!” Yep, the team of that name is introduced in Marvel’s West Coast Avengers #46. “Franchise” is by John Byrne and Mike Machlan.

30 years ago July 1994 Bart Allen showed up in “Out of Time” in the previous issue, but it’s in DC’s Flash (1987 series) #92 that the cover says, “There’s a new kid in town … and he’ll run you down!” The story by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, and José Marzán Jr. features Bart as Impulse and is titled “Reckless Youth, Chapter One: Speed Kills.”

30 years ago July 1994 “Fearless final issue! The Long Goodbye!” Marvel ends Quasar with #60 in a story by Mark Gruenwald, John Heebink, and Aaron McClellan.

30 years ago July 1994 Marvel’s Force Works kicks off with “Daybreak” by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Tom Tenney, and Rey Garcia.

20 years ago July 2004 “The Unfamiliar” by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson is published in The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft. It will win the Eisner Award for the Best Short Story of the Year.

20 years ago July 2004 Yep, Marvel has produced a couple of short-run Astonishing X-Men series. Now, though, the title begins an ongoing run with the first part of “Gifted” by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday in #1.

20 years ago July 2004 Sure, they’d been around for decades earlier, but Archie started a Betty and Veronica series in June 1987. And now? Hey, it’s Betty and Veronica #200! “200 Things I Like about You!” is by Kathleen Webb, Jeff Shultz, and Henry Scarpelli.

20 years ago July 2004 David Mack takes his Kabuki title to Marvel. The story in the first issue is “The Alchemy.”

15 years ago July 2009 Oh, come on! You know you want the team provided in Marvel’s Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers! “The Infinity Gems” in #1 is by Chris Eliopoulos, Ig Guara, and Colleen Coover and introduces Throg.

15 years ago July 2009 OK, it’s not the first New Mutants #1 from Marvel; it won’t be the last. Anyway, this begins with “Return of the Legion, Part 1: We Were Many, Once” by Zeb Wells, Diógenes Neves, Cam Smith, and Edgar Tadeo.

15 years ago July 2009 DC kicks off The Unwritten with the first chapter of “Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity” by Mike Carey and Peter Gross.

10 years ago July 2014 Marvel releases a bunch of “#1” issues: Cyclops, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Giant-Size Spider-Man, Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, and Thanos Annual. Oh, and Amazing Spider-Man #1.1. Collect them all?

10 years ago July 2014 You want worlds in conflict and fierce fantastic foes? And a comics shop? OK, then. Dark Horse offers Groo vs. Conan #1 by Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, and Thomas Yeates.

5 years ago July 2019 Robert E. Howard’s Conan joins Marvel superheroes for the first issue of Savage Avengers. “Once upon a Time in the City of Sickles” is by Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato.

5 years ago July 2019 Marvel produces a bunch of character focused Star Wars: Age of Rebellion first (and only) issues: Boba Fett, Han Solo, Jabba the Hutt, and Lando Calrissian. (Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia starred in June, and Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker get their turn in August.) Sure, collect them all.

5 years ago July 2019 The six-issue Marvel miniseries War of the Realms begins with a bunch of variant covers. Surprised? The story involving characters from Asgard and New York City is by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman.

5 years ago July 2019 Eek? DC introduces DCeased with a (you’ll be surprised to learn) bunch of variant covers. Uh oh! There’s a zombie-like plague in “Going Viral” by Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, James Harren, and Stefano Gaudiano.

5 years ago July 2019 The Walking Dead wraps up with #193 from Image. “The Farm House” is by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard.