Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for July 5-11, 2024...
130 years ago July 10, 1894 Award-winning Swedish artist Elov Persson is born. He creates Sweden’s longest running series: Kronblom (1927) and Agust och Lotta (1928).
115 years ago July 5, 1909 Sports cartoonist and Golden Age Prize Comics artist Alan Maver is born.
115 years ago July 9, 1909 Artist Basil Wolverton is born. He creates Powerhouse Pepper, draws Lena the Hyena for Li’l Abner, illustrates Bible stories, draws the cover of Mad #11, and provides art for the cover of Panic #4.
110 years ago July 10, 1914 Superman co-creator artist Joe Shuster is born.
105 years ago July 7, 1919 Actor Jon Pertwee is born. As the third Doctor in Doctor Who, he appears in comics stories about the character.
100 years ago July 6, 1924 Artist Frank Giacoia is born. He draws stories for Marvel, Archie, and several comic strips.
100 years ago July 6, 1924 Spanish artist Juan Bernet Toledano is born. He co-creates Los Guerrilleros with Andrade.
100 years ago July 7, 1924 Brazilian artist Gedeone Malagola is born.
100 years ago July 8, 1924 Writer-artist Walter R. Allman dies at age 40. He created the gag strip Doings of the Duffs.
100 years ago July 11, 1924 French writer-artist Jules Depaquit dies at age 54.
95 years ago July 9, 1929 Georges Blondeau is born. The French artist known as Gébé edits Hara-Kiri in the 1970s and contributes to alternative magazines.
95 years ago July 11, 1929 Dutch artist Willem van der Nat dies at age 64.
85 years ago July 7, 1939 British cartoonist Robert Nixon is born. He contributes a variety of features to such publications as The Beano and Monster Fun.
75 years ago July 6, 1949 Writer Tony Franco is born.
75 years ago July 7, 1949 1990s DC Retailer Representative Rich Markow is born.
75 years ago July 8, 1949 Writer-artist Harold H. Knerr dies of heart disease at age 66. He took over Hearst’s The Katzenjammer Kids from creator Rudolph Dirks.
75 years ago July 10, 1949 Cover artist Bob Larkin is born.
75 years ago July 10, 1949 Clifford by Jules Feiffer (which appeared in Will Eisner’s Kewpies one-shot) moves to the back page of Eisner’s Spirit comics insert for newspapers.
70 years ago July 5, 1954 Award-winning Brazilian writer-artist, editor, and publisher Otacílio Costa d’Assunção Barros (who works as “Ota”) is born.
65 years ago July 6, 1959 Artist Louis Paradis is born.
65 years ago July 6, 1959 German artist and teacher George Grosz dies of a fall at age 65.
65 years ago July 8, 1959 Artist Stan Woch is born. His work includes stories featuring Airboy, Swamp Thing, Black Orchid, and Sandman.
65 years ago July 10, 1959 Belgian writer-artist and Studio Max! co-founder (with Rik De Wulf) Marc Daniëls is born.
60 years ago July 9, 1964 Prolific Dutch writer-artist-editor Piet Broos dies of heart failure at age 53. His work included Ali Baba, Johanna Droedel, and De Trompetter van de Koning.
60 years ago July 10, 1964 Artist Samuel Zagat dies at age 76.
60 years ago July 10, 1964 Writer-artist-editor Sandra Chang-Adair is born. Her work includes the online Gothic Geisha.
60 years ago July 10, 1964 Private Eye magazine introduces Nicholas Garland’s Barry McKenzie.
60 years ago July 11, 1964 Grimly Feendish is introduced in Leo Baxendale’s Eagle-Eye, Junior Spy.
55 years ago July 5, 1969 Argentine artist and editor Guillermo Divito dies in a car crash at age 54.
50 years ago July 7, 1974 Italian artist Antonio Sciotti dies at age 49.
50 years ago July 7, 1974 Silver Age DC writer Dave Wood dies at age 47.
50 years ago July 9, 1974 Prolific Silver Age Superman scripter Leo Dorfman dies at age 60. He wrote for Gold Key, as well as for DC.
40 years ago July 11, 1984 Rachael Taylor is born. She plays Patsy (“Trish”) Walker in Jessica Jones.
35 years ago July 10, 1989 Voice artist and actor Mel Blanc dies of heart disease and emphysema at age 81. He voiced such classic characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig.
35 years ago July 10, 1989 Belgian writer-artist-editor Jean-Michel Charlier dies at age 64. The co-founder of the Edifrance agency (with Albert Uderzo and Rene Goscinny) and co-founder (with Goscinny) of Pilote co-created Blueberry with Jean Giraud (also known as Moebius).
35 years ago July 10, 1989 National Cartoonists Society Secretary Mary Margaret “Marge” Devine dies at age 74.
20 years ago July 8, 2004 German artist Chlodwig Poth dies at age 74. He co-founded Titanic magazine and the satirical magazine Pardon.
15 years ago July 6, 2009 Matthew Inman launches The Oatmeal website.
15 years ago July 6, 2009 Spanish animator and artist Alfons Figueras dies at age 86.
5 years ago July 11, 2019 Award-winning Spanish animator and artist Pepita Pardell dies at age 91. She was a pioneer of Spanish animation cinema.
