Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for January 17-23, 2024...

125 years ago January 23, 1900 Animator and director David Hand is born. The Disney Legends honored supervising director of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi establishes Gaumont British Animation.

120 years ago January 21, 1905 Swedish writer and creator of inventive farmer Åsa-Nisse Stig Cederholm is born.

120 years ago January 23, 1905 Portuguese artist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro dies at age 58.

115 years ago January 23, 1910 Brazilian writer-artist Angelo Agostini dies at age 66. He’s considered the first Brazilian comics artist, and the Brazilian comics awards Prêmio Angelo Agostini are named for him.

105 years ago January 17, 1920 The British comic book Film Fun begins with a cover featuring Harold Lloyd.

105 years ago January 17, 1920 French writer-artist Georges Pichard is born. He’s known for Ténébrax and Submerman.

105 years ago January 20, 1920 Federico Fellini is born. Though best known as a film director, he also writes and draws comics.

100 years ago January 19, 1925 German artist Edith Hegenbarth is born.

95 years ago January 20, 1930 German artist Harry Schlegel is born.

95 years ago January 23, 1930 Quick et Flupe, Gamins de Bruxelles by Hergé begins in Le Petit Vingtième.

90 years ago January 21, 1935 Dutch artist Jan Wesseling is born. He works in the Marten Toonder Studios.

80 years ago January 20, 1945 Argentinian-Italian writer-artist, editor, animator, and founder of the magazine Paperino e alter avventure, Federico Pedrocchi, dies in a bomb attack at age 37.

80 years ago January 21, 1945 Uruguayan-French artist Eugène Damblans (also known as “Eugène Damblanc”) dies at age 79.

75 years ago January 20, 1950 Artist Keith Pollard is born. He co-creates Black Cat with Marv Wolfman, with whom he also launches the Vigilante series.

75 years ago January 22, 1950 Writer-artist Marshall Rogers is born. He is known for his work on stories featuring Batman and Scorpio Rose and for his creation of Cap’n Quick & a Foozle.

70 years ago January 18, 1955 British artist and Punch contributor George Morrow dies at age 85.

70 years ago January 19, 1955 Artist Tom Yeates is born. He’s known for his work on Prince Valiant, Swamp Thing, Zorro, and Edgar Rice Burroughs characters.

70 years ago January 22, 1955 Writer and Heroic Publishing owner Dennis Mallonee is born. He produces Flare and The League of Champions and creates Chrissie Claus.

65 years ago January 23, 1960 Writer Franz Henkel is born.

60 years ago January 18, 1965 Artist-writer and teacher Bill Fountain is born. Much of his comics work is based on classic material of Edgar Allan Poe.

60 years ago January 21, 1965 Artist Carl Buettner dies at age 61. Starting his career with girlie cartoons for such magazines as Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang, he was an art editor for Fawcett, then joined Disney, and then moved to Western, where he was an art director and is credited with creating Li’l Bad Wolf with Chase Craig.

60 years ago January 21, 1965 Finnish lyricist, actor, and comics writer Reino Helismaa dies at age 51.

60 years ago January 23, 1965 The British comics magazine Sparky begins.

55 years ago January 17, 1970 Artist Norman E. Jennett dies at age 92. The political cartoonist was art director at McFadden Publications.

55 years ago January 18, 1970 Friday Foster by Jim Lawrence and Jorge Longaron begins.

55 years ago January 22, 1970 Award-winning writer-artist Alex Ross is born. He is especially known for his art on Marvels (with Kurt Busiek) and Kingdom Come (with Mark Waid).

50 years ago January 19, 1975 Spanish artist Marino Benejam Ferrer dies at age 84.

35 years ago January 20, 1990 French artist Claude Auclair dies at age 46. He was known for the post-apocalyptic saga Simon du Fleuve.

30 years ago January 19, 1995 Disney animator and writer-artist Don Tobin (creator of the Little Woman strip) dies two weeks before his 80th birthday.

30 years ago January 21, 1995 Pioneering Hungarian animator John Halas dies at age 83. He founded the Halas and Batchelor animation company with his wife, Joy Batchelor.

25 years ago January 19, 2000 Spanish artist Antonio Palacios dies at age 78.

20 years ago January 22-23, 2005 Big Apple Comic Con I is held in New York City.

15 years ago January 21, 2010 Influential French artist Jacques Martin dies at age 88. He was best known for “Alix” and “Lefranc.”

10 years ago January 20, 2015 Dutch underground artist Peter Pontiac dies of liver disease at age 63.

5 years ago January 19, 2020 Novelist and screenwriter Chuck Alverson dies at age 84. He was Harvey Kurtzman’s assistant editor on Help! in the early 1960s.

5 years ago January 19, 2020 Award-winning Belgian writer-artist Leon van de Velde (who worked as “Pirana”) dies at age 72 from euthanasia after suffering from cancer.

5 years ago January 20, 2020 German writer, historian, and translator Wolfgang J. Fuchs dies at age 74. Wiki says his 1971 book (with Reinhold C. Reitberger) Comics. Anatomie eines Massenmediums “was the first standard work in German on comics as an art form.”

5 years ago January 23, 2020 Award-winning Hungarian artist and animator Zsolt Richly dies at age 78.