Otto Soglow, whose comic strip The Little King ran for 40 years and entertained me when I was a kid, was born December 23, 1900—though I wasn’t to meet him until April 23, 1973 at that year’s Reuben Awards banquet held at the Waldorf Astoria. Which was apt, since he was a co-founder of the National Cartoonists Society, host for that event.

Annoying kid with a sketchpad that I was, I wheedled sketches out of Garry Trudeau, Curt Swan, Paul Fung, Jr., Roy Crane … and, of course, Soglow as well, who drew for me the famous character whose newspaper strip he would continue to create until his death in 1975.

I have no special memories of that encounter, only this wonderful souvenir.

But happy birthday! And thanks for making me smile.

I find it hard to believe I haven’t shared this Al Jaffee drawing before—but perhaps I was saving it for a milestone moment like this, when I could wish the man a happy 95th birthday!

Jaffee sketched out this self-portrait for me at a National Cartoonist Society Ruben Awards banquet held at the Waldorf Astoria in 1973, to which I was invited by Bill Kresse, a cartoonist I’d met during a class trip to the Daily News. I was an annoying teen fanboy in those days (now I’m only annoying), yet he was willing to put up with me when I interrupted his chowing down on rubber chicken and presented him with my pad and marker.

Forty-three years later, I am still grateful for his patience. (And for the patience of Curt Swan, Gary Trudeau, Paul Fung, Jr., and others that night as well!)

So thank you for that, Al Jaffee—and for ensuring I own no copies of MAD in mint condition due to my inability to resist folding and creasing those famous inside back cover fold-ins of yours.

Happy birthday!

Mike Grell was born 68 years ago. So happy birthday!

Also, a little more than 42 years ago, when I was but a fanboy wandering conventions with a pad under one arm, begging artists for sketches, he drew me this. So add a thanks to those birthday wishes!

Based on the date—July 6, 1973—Grell would have been 26 and I would have been 18 when I approached him the Friday of one of Phil Seuling’s famed July 4th weekend comic conventions at the Statler Hilton Hotel.

I can no longer tell, from this distance of more than four decades, whether that’s supposed to be Green Arrow or Warlord, neither of which he had yet drawn professionally.

Warlord wouldn’t appear until two years later, in 1st Issue Special #8 (Nov. 1975), and I don’t think he had a chance to tackle Green Arrow until 1987.

Based on that beard and mustache, it could be either of them. But I’ll choose to believe Grell was giving me a glimpse of Warlord, long before the rest of you got to see him.

Hope you’re enjoying your birthday, Mike! And thanks again for putting up with the annoying fan I most certainly was.

My father, Barney Edelman, should have turned 82 today. But instead, I lost him on January 27, 2009, when he was only 76. I’m missing him, and one of the ways I’m dealing with that is by communing with his artwork. Luckily, he left behind a lot of it.

I’ve shared many of Dad’s paintings with you before, and here he is with four more, a quadriptych of birds he painted to fill a large wall in our new home.

He was an artist his entire life, and his output consisted of far more than the oil paintings I’ve previously posted. Earlier this year, I brought home more than 100 pieces of his artwork, and this morning I looked through them again. Here are just a few. (more…)

The only time I ever met Paul Fung, Jr., who was the artist on the Blondie comic book for 40 years, he was younger than I am now, and I was 17.

I was attending the 1973 Reuben Awards banquet thanks to friend Bill Kresse, and clueless teen comics fan that I was, I wandered the ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria with a pad and magic markers and asked the artists there—who were far more interested in eating, drinking, dancing, and schmoozing with their friends—for sketches.

Which is how I ended up with drawings of Superman by Curt Swan, Beetle Bailey by Mort Walker, Zonker Harris by Garry Trudeau, and many others … including this one from Fung.

Here’s wishing Paul Fung, Jr., who took the time to be nice to a teen noodge long ago and far away, a happy 91st birthday. May there be many more!

I wanted to wish Flash Gordon a happy birthday today—after all, his first strip appeared in newspapers on January 7, 1934—but then I took a look at that first strip, which I don’t recall having seen before …

… and I winced. You might wince, too.

Yep. It all began with “howling blacks.” (more…)

Ramona Fradon, one of my favorite comic book artists, turned 87 today. So—happy birthday, Ramona!

Though I have fond memories of the Aquaman stories she drew that appeared in the back pages of Adventure Comics throughout the ’50s and into the ’60s, I think I truly fell in love with her artwork from The Brave and The Bold #57 (January 1965), introducing Metamorpho, which she co-created. I was nine years old.

At the time, I never dreamed that she’d someday bring some of my own words to life (or that there’d even be any of my own words to bring to life), illustrating a 5-page horror story, “My Mother, the Witch,” fourteen years later for House of Mystery #273 (October 1979).

When I searched for the proper image to celebrate Ramona’s birthday, I was surprised to find that complete story online. And not just the pages as printed, but her original artwork, thanks to an online auction, which means you get to admire her clean lines exactly as she drew them.

So check out the complete story below!

(more…)

Last month, while I was off at San Diego Comic-Con, my wife was having a Comic-Con of her own. And while she was envious of my trip, I was even more envious of hers—because she got to spend the day with Marie Severin.

Of all the people we’ve met in comics, she’s the one we love the most. (Well, other than each other.)

Marie turned 84 today, and the photo above shows how mirthful she was (for those who don’t know, “Mirthful” was her Marvel Comics nickname) exactly one month ago at 83 years, 11 months.

And yes. That is the Incredible Hulk on her chest.

Can’t wait until we see each other again in October, Marie!

Yes, I know Curt is no longer with us, but he would have turned 82 the other day, and since he was THE Superman artist of my youth, I figured I should take note. His is the face of Superman I see when I close my eyes, though you’d think, based on my age, that face could have easily belonged to Wayne Boring.

As far as I know, I only met Curt once, back in 1973 at a National Cartoonist Society Ruben Awards banquet held at the Waldorf Astoria. I was just a fanboy then, my job in the Marvel Bullpen still in the future. I was the guest of cartoonist Bill Kresse, whom I’d met thanks to a high school class trip to the New York Daily News.

I wore a old tuxedo which had belonged to a family friend, and as is true for all fanboys back then, I carried a sketch pad tucked under one arm. And to the embarrassment of my host, I interrupted the artists as they tried to eat their rubber chicken, and asked for drawings. (At least I assume my actions had to embarrass Bill. He never said. Who knows? Maybe he found them amusing.)

Here’s what Curt graciously drew for me. (more…)

Steve Skeates—the comics writer responsible for the first Marvel/DC crossover, one that not only took place in the final issues of two titles he wrote, but was also basically done without the powers that be at either company being aware of it—turned 69 today. (Consider yourself awarded a No Prize if you know which two comics those were without having to look it up.)

Happy birthday, Steve!

Steve was of a previous comics generation than me—hey, he co-created Hawk and Dove with Steve Ditko!—so we never got a chance to work together professionally, but I did score an autograph from him during my snotty kid with a sketchpad phase of fandom.

The drawing below was probably done at a convention in 1971, but if not then, surely no later than 1972.

Want to prove yourself really worthy of that No Prize? Then explain the relevance of that rather anxious-looking fish without looking it up!