Anniversaries

Jim Shooter was born on September 27, 1951, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Less than 15 years later, he was a comics professional. Less than 15 years after that, he was the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Shooter's legacy may look very different to different comics fans, but nobody has ever had a career in comics that looked like his.

Charles Burns excels at making people feel uncomfortable. Born September 27, 1955, Burns has been making incredible comics since his debut in the early 1980s. Simultaneously, he's cultivated a career as one of the most coveted and respected illustrators in the magazine industry. Today we celebrate one of the most unique voices in comics.

Paul Pope, born September 25, 1970, is one of the world’s most exciting cartoonists. With an incredibly distinctive style that is reminiscent both of old Jack Kirby comics and the glam music style of the '70s, Pope tells futuristic stories with characters that rebel against the status quo.

Born September 23rd, 1956, Peter David has enjoyed a long and illustrious tenure as one of the most respected writers in comics. His resume includes several long runs that have defined or redefined major characters, many of them considered classics. David has been one of the most divisive and controversial writers in superhero comics, as well-known for his willingness to speak up for his convictions as he is for his writing.

In the late 1950s, science fiction was a big deal, so it made sense when DC editorial director Irwin Donenfeld asked two of his editors, Jack Schiff and Julius Schwartz, to each create a new sci-fi hero: one from the present and one from the future. Schiff chose the future hero and created Space Ranger, who was a fun Silver Age concept, but ultimately not that big a deal. But Schwartz, along with artist Murphy Anderson and writer Gardner Fox, created Adam Strange, an interstellar hero who endures to this day.

Some comic creators are known for their work on a specific title, some for their association with a specific character, some for particular stylistic innovations, some for the impact they had on other people working in their field. Joe Kubert was known for all those things and more, to the point that it's probably just best to describe him as being known for being Joe Kubert.

Spider-Man. Superman. Starman. Doctor Strange. The Avengers. These are just a few of the characters Roger Stern has left his mark on over the course of his long career in comics. He rose from passionate fan to consummate professional over the course of a few years in the '70s, and went on to play a role in some of the most entertaining (and successful) stories of the ensuing decades. He co-created the Hobgoblin, and was a major force behind the death (and eventual rebirth) of Superman. He's one of comics' most reliable writers, known for his consistently tight plots, his strong characterization, and his continual creativity.

Howard The Duck is one of the great idiosyncratic characters in comics; an ill-tempered alien waterfowl with no special powers or abilities, who has nonetheless ended up as a fixture of the Marvel Universe. Since he first appeared on 11 September 1973 in second-tier horror title Adventures Into Fear #19, waddling out of the bushes to interrupt a hallucinogenic story by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik, he's constantly beaten the odds, becoming a beloved character to generations.

You may not have heard Jean-Claude Forest's name. He's not exactly a legend in American comics circles. But you know his most famous creation. Love her or hate her, you've heard of her. Maybe you haven't read the comic. Maybe you haven't even seen the movie. But you've seen colorful posters of Jane Fonda looking flawless in a variety of impeccably styled costumes that put a sci-fi spin on burlesque. Or is it a burlesque spin on sci-fi? Either way, that's Barbarella.

Born September 10, 1960, Alison Bechdel is one of the most important cartoonists in the field. Her long running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For gave birth to the Bechdel-Wallace test for gender bias in film, and her award-winning graphic memoir Fun Home was adapted into a musical in 2013. Her focus on personal moments within her own life and the lives of others in the lesbian community brought feminist queer stories to the mainstream.