John Byrne, X-Men, Jack Frost, Billy Yank, Burt Ward, Robin, Magnus Robot Fighter, The Man From Planet X, Ghosts of Mars, Rick Sternbach, Terminator.

This is one of those days when the big names (at least in my life) roll in. Take a look.


Enjoy !!!



Birthdays

John Byrne 1950, comic book artist, Byrne's best-known work has been on Marvel Comics’ X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils).

Frank Giacoia 1926, inker, comic book artist, He broke into comics by penciling the feature "Jack Frost" in USA Comics #3 (Jan. 1942), published by Marvel Comics, His early works include crime for Ace Comics, horror for Avon Comics,and a multitude of characters for National Publications (the primary company that evolved into DC Comics) including the Flash and Batman. during the 1940s and 1950s include Crestwood, Dell Comics, Eastern Color, Fawcett, Harvey Comics Lev Gleason Publications and Timely Comics, During the 1960s Silver Age of comic books, Giacoia became best known as a Marvel Comics inker, particularly on Captain America stories penciled by the character's co-creator, industry legend Jack Kirby. Giacoia also worked on the newspaper comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man (based on the same-name Marvel comic-book series) from 1978-1981, as well as on the strips Flash Gordon, The Incredible Hulk, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank, Sherlock Holmes and Thorne McBride.

Burt Ward 1945, actor, best known for his work as Robin, the "Boy Wonder," in the 1960s television series Batman. Robin / Dick Grayson - Batman (1966), Batgirl (1967) (TV), Batman (120 episodes, 1966-1968), The New Adventures of Batman (16 episodes, 1977-1978), Tarzan and the Super 7 (1978) TV series, Legends of the Superheroes (1979) TV series, Stanley Kane - Robot Ninja (1989), Omnipresent Praxima - Alien Force (1996), Gerbil - Homeboys in Outer Space (1 episode, 1997), Robin - The Simpsons (1 episode, 2002).

Donald Ragnvald Christensen 1916, cartoonist, He was sometimes credited as "Don Arr". Christensen was a graduate of the Minnesota School of Art in Minneapolis. After finishing school he worked for the Walt Disney Studio from 1937 to 1941. He left the studio after the 1941 Snow White production strike, during which he met his wife-to-be, Ivy-Carol Van Horn, a special effects detail artist. Christensen then worked briefly at Warner Bros. studio, primarily as a storyboard artist for Bob Clampett's animation unit. After leaving Warner Bros. he worked independently for nearly four decades as a storyboard writer and artist, primarily for Western Publishing, Dell and Gold Key comic books, as well as Hanna Barbera, Walter Lantz Productions, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and other cartoon studios. He wrote and provided illustrations for such comic book titles as Magnus, Robot Fighter, Donald Duck, and Uncle Scrooge. He was involved with the Southern California Comic Artist Professionals Society for many years, and was a past President of the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS).

William Schallert 1922, actor, Dr. Mears - The Man from Planet X (1951), Craig /Stuart - Space Patrol (2 episodes, 1951-1952), Third Newscaster - Invasion USA (1952), Engle - Gog (1954), Ambulance Attendant - Them! (1954), Johnston (a Reporter) - Tobor the Great (1954), Ted Richards - Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (3 episodes, 1955), Mr. Thomas - Science Fiction Theatre (1 episode, "A Visit from Dr. Pliny", 1955), Doctor Arthur Bramson - The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), Weatherman - The Monolith Monsters (1957), Major Karl Richmond - Steve Canyon (3 episodes, 1958-1959), Dr. Orrin - Men Into Space (1 episode, "A Handful of Hours", 1960), Policeman - The Twilight Zone (1 episode, "Mr. Bevis", 1960), Dick Webb / Doctor Sanders - Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (2 episodes, 1959-1960), Mr. Andrews - Archie (1964) (TV), Nilz Baris - Star Trek (1 episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles", 1967), Dr. Arno - Land of the Giants (1 episode, "The Clones", 1969), CIA Director Grauber - Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), Lorin Sandusky - The Six Million Dollar Man (1 episode, "Eyewitness to Murder", 1974), Bill Elgin - The Bionic Woman (1 episode, "Claws", 1976), Retired Man/Scarlet Cyclone - Legends of the Superheroes" (1979) TV series (voice), Father (Segment #3) - Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Father Grant - The Twilight Zone (segment "Shadow Play") (1 episode, 1986), Dr. Greenbush - Innerspace (1987), Willem - 'Tis the Season to Be Smurfy (1987) (TV) (voice), Judge Haller - Quantum Leap (1 episode, "So Help Me God - July 29, 1957", 1989), Varani - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1 episode, "Santuary", 1993), Al - Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1 episode, "The Source", 1994), Dr. Cowtiki - The Angry Beavers (1 episode, "The Day the Earth Got Really Screwed Up", 1998), Farmer P./Neville Popenbacher - What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2 episodes, 2003-2005), Appa Ali Apsa - Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) (V) (voice).

Rosemary Forsyth 1943, actress, Anne Koster - The Immortal (1 episode, "Reflections on a Lost Tomorrow", 1970), Ellen - The Incredible Hulk (1 episode, "Dark Side", 1980), Alzen - Star Trek: Voyager (1 episode, "Scientific Method", 1997), Inquisitor - Ghosts of Mars (2001).

Rick Sternbach 1951, illustrator / designer, best known for his space illustrations and his work on the Star Trek television series. After leaving University, he became an illustrator for books and magazines, with his first cover illustration published on the October 1973 issue of Analog magazine. After some work for Disney and PBS, in April 1978, Sternbach was offered an illustrator position on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. From 1977 to 1980, Sternbach worked as an Assistant Art Director and Visual Effects Artist on Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage series, where he designed sets and storyboard sequences during pre-production and then worked on visual effects scenes during production. For his work on the episode The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean he won the 1980-1981 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Creative Technical Craft. In 1983, he worked as an illustrator on The Last Starfighter, story-boarding visual effects sequences and developing texture maps for computer rendered space scenes. In January 1987, Sternbach was hired along with Andrew Probert (the first two art department hires) to start design work for a new Star Trek series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sternbach helped define the look of the 24th century that would be used throughout The Next Generation and the series that followed it, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Props such as the phasers, tricorders, PADDs and the communicator badge were all based on his designs. During his time in the Star Trek art department at Paramount, Sternbach was also responsible for a number of starship designs including the Cardassian Galor class starships, the Klingon Vor'cha and Negh'Var class starships and Federation starships such as the Prometheus class, the Dauntless, the Nova class and the USS Voyager itself. As fans of the original series of Star Trek and fans of the space program, Sternbach and Michael Okuda found roles as Technical Advisors on the series, advising the writers on technical matters and developing a number of concepts to add realism to the Star Trek universe, such as the Structural Integrity Field and the Inertial Damper. To this end, they produced a technical manual for each series, that was made available along with the series bible to any prospective script-writers to familiarize them with the concepts behind the series' technology. In 1991, Pocket Books published an updated, illustrated version of the Next Generation Technical Manual and then seven years later, the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual. When Voyager finished its seventh year in 2001, the producers decided they wanted a different look for the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise that was set in the 22nd century, so Sternbach did not transfer over to the Enterprise art department, concluding his fourteen-year employment at Paramount Studios. Sternbach returned to Star Trek in 2002, when he produced control panel designs and signage for the Enterprise-E and Romulan starships in Star Trek Nemesis. After Star Trek, as Scenic Artist on Steven Soderbergh's Solaris, Sternbach contributed control panel designs to the Prometheus station set and the Athena 7 ship cockpit and also designed and rendered animated loops to play on background set displays.

Symba Berae Smith 1970, actress, Bar Dancer - Star Trek: Voyager (1 episode, "Alliances", 1996), Officer Weber - Sliders (1 episode, "The Dream Masters", 1996), Aluura - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1 episode, "Profit and Lace", 1998), Field Reporter - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (1 episode, "Self Made Man", 2008).

Brady Bluhm 1983, actor, Latika - Star Trek: Voyager (1 episode, "Time and Again", 1995), Christopher Robin - Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997) (V) (voice), Christopher Robin - Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (1999) (TV) (voice), Christopher Robin - Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999) (V) (voice).

Events

1987, Star Cops airs on BBC.

1987, Filming begins on TNG: "The Naked Now".

1994, Babylon 5 Episode 15 - "Grail" first aired