Dan Decarlo, Archie Comics, Warren Tufts, Casey Ruggles, Lance, The Lone Spaceman, Korak, The Pink Panther, Wagon Train, The Westerner, Captain Fathom

So where do you begin on a day when your favorite cartoonist and comic artist was born on this day along with Dan DeCarlo of Archie fame and Fred Kida of the 40's Airboy fame. Well I guess you mention your favorite. Warren Tufts (yes,same last name) was born today. I first fell in love with his work when I saw the Casey Ruggles dailies. His work was so precise and clean that it made me smile. Since then I've looked for his work and collected quite a bit of it but have yet to find a single hint of his Lone Spaceman work. I would love to have a single piece of that short lived strip. I've had so many great artists talk to me about Warren's work and what kind of guy he was. The first artist was Alex Toth. I still have the postcard he sent me explaining about Warren's death. Since then it's been great to talk with others about his work and how they worked with him over the years. I always appreciate stories from all that have them.


Enjoy !!!



Birthdays

Dan DeCarlo 1919, cartoonist best known as the artist who developed the look of Archie Comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, modernizing the characters to their contemporary appearance and establishing the publisher's house style. As well, he is the generally recognized creator of the characters Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats (with the lead character named for his wife), and Cheryl Blossom.

Warren Tufts 1925, cartoonist and comic artist, best known for daily strip Casey Ruggles, Lance, and The Lone Spaceman. He drew numerous comic books for Gold Key Comics, including Korak, Son of Tarzan, The Pink Panther, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, and Wagon Train. On TV, he lent his voice, and artistic talents to the series Captain Fathom (1965), and is credited as story director on Hanna-Barbera's ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972) and Challenge of the Super Friends (1978). He also played the character Gator in the "Dos Pinos" episode of the TV series The Westerner (1960).

Fred Kida 1920, comic book and comic strip artist best known for the characters Airboy and Valkyrie. in 1941, Kida moved on to a staff position at Iger client Quality Comics. There he both penciled and inked his first known credited work, the feature "Phantom Clipper" in Military Comics #9 (April 1942). In 1942, he joined Hillman Periodicals, where he drew such features as "Iron Ace" (from its premiere in Air Fighters Comics vol. 1, #2, Nov. 1942), "Boy King" and "Gunmaster", and the following year began work on his most prominent Golden Age character, Airboy. In 1953, he left to freelance for Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics. There he worked on characters including the Western gunslingers the Ringo Kid and the Two-Gun Kid and the medieval hero the Black Knight, and anthological horror, war and Bible stories. In addition to his comic-book work, Kida in 1941 was one of writer-artist Will Eisner's assistants on the newspaper Sunday-supplement comic-book The Spirit; and from 1946-47 assisted artist Bob Fujitani (also known as "Bob Wells") on the comic strip Judge Wright. He also briefly assisted Milt Caniff on the strip Steve Canyon. Most notably, however, Kida assisted artist Dan Barry on the long-running strip Flash Gordon from 1958-61 and then again from 1968-71; and, under his own byline, drew the comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man from 1981-86. After leaving comics to concentrate on comic strips (see below), Kida returned to Marvel in the 1970s, primarily as an inker, working on such characters as Iron Man, Godzilla, Ka-Zar, Luke Cage, Man-Wolf, and (for Marvel UK) Captain Britain. His final known full comic-book credit is the superhero-team title The Defenders #72 (June 1979) — featuring Marvel's own character called Valkyrie. His last known published comic-book work was in the 1980s Eclipse Comics revamp of Airboy, to which he contributed a full-page pinup featuring both Airboy and Valkyrie.

Sarah Sutton 1961, actress, Nyssa / Ann Talbot - Doctor Who (48 episodes, 1981-1984), Nyssa - Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) (TV).

Don C. Harvey 1911, actor, Henchman Nolan - Batman and Robin (1949)[Chs. 1-6], Albor (lab henchman) - Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), Chuck - Joe Palooka in Triple Cross (1951), Gallagher - Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere (1951), Bart / Rocky Billings / Gaynor - Captain Midnight (3 episodes, 1954-1955), Skipper (Joe's Searchlight Partner) - Revenge of the Creature (1955), Lester Banning - Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), Officer - Dennis the Menace (1 episode, "Wilson Sleeps Over", 1961), Military commander - The Outer Limits (1 episode, "The Galaxy Being", 1963).

Eddie Parker 1900, actor, Ming Soldier - Flash Gordon (1936/I), Khan's Guardsman - Undersea Kingdom (1936)[Chs. 2-3, 6], Marine Guard - Secret Agent X-9 (1937)[Ch. 1]/FBI Agent Crain [Chs. 6-8, 11-12]/Henchman [Chs. 11-12], Henchman - Tim Tyler's Luck (1937), Martian Soldier - Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938), Burton - Dick Tracy Returns (1938), Council-Room Guard - Buck Rogers (1939), Henchman - Mandrake the Magician (1939), Bayside Dock Thug - Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939)[Chs. 7-8], Arborian Prison Guard - Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)[Ch. 10], Henchman with Dolan - The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1940)[Ch. 3], Hideout Heavy - Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (1941)[Ch. 14], Scott - The Phantom (1943)[Chs. 10-11,13-14], Meggs - The Masked Marvel (1943), Ship's Captain - Captain Mephisto and the Transformation Machine [Chs. 1, 8]/Fallon, Cave Thug [Ch. 12], Cop in Park - The Phantom Speaks (1945), Launch Thug - Secret Agent X-9 (1945)[Ch. 6], Warehouse Thug - The Shadow Returns (1946), Truck Driver - Superman (1948)[Chs. 11-12], Holt - Batman and Robin (1949)[Chs. 1, 5-8, 12, 15], Rowan - King of the Rocket Men (1949)[Ch. 3], Dutch [Chs. 1-4]/Herb [Chs. 5-6]/Malloy [Ch. 7]/Heavy Bender [Ch. 11]/Nash/White - Radar Patrol vs. Spy King (1949), Stoner, Barn Henchman - The Invisible Monster (1950)[Ch.9], Power Company Truck Driver - Atom Man vs. Superman (1950)[Ch. 9], Payne - Government Agents vs Phantom Legion (1951)[Ch.8], Hijacked Truck Passenger - Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere (1951)[Ch. 9], Paul Lund/Eric Jacobs - Tarantula (1955), Mole Person - The Mole People (1956). Was also the stunt double for Lewis Wilson on the serial Batman (1943).

Events

1897, The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip begins.

1988, Star Trek:TNG, "The Outrageous Okona" airs.

1994, First of two days of reshoots for VOY: "Caretaker".