Portal:Comics

Davenport in 1912

Homer Calvin Davenport (March 8, 1867 – May 2, 1912) was a political cartoonist and writer from the United States. He is known for drawings that satirized figures of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, most notably Ohio Senator Mark Hanna. Although Davenport had no formal art training, he became one of the highest paid political cartoonists in the world. Davenport also was one of the first major American breeders of Arabian horses and one of the founders of the Arabian Horse Club of America.

A native Oregonian, Davenport developed interests in both art and horses as a young boy. He tried a variety of jobs before gaining employment as a cartoonist, initially working at several newspapers on the West Coast, including The San Francisco Examiner, purchased by William Randolph Hearst. His talent for drawing and interest in Arabian horses dovetailed in 1893 at the Chicago Daily Herald when he studied and drew the Arabian horses exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition. When Hearst acquired the New York Morning Journal in 1895, money was no object in his attempt to establish the Journal as a leading New York newspaper, and Hearst moved Davenport east in 1885 to be part of what is regarded as one of the greatest newspaper staffs ever assembled. Working with columnist Alfred Henry Lewis, Davenport created many cartoons in opposition to the 1896 Republican presidential candidate, former Ohio governor William McKinley, and Hanna, his campaign manager. McKinley was elected and Hanna elevated to the Senate; Davenport continued to draw his sharp cartoons during the 1900 presidential race, though McKinley was again victorious.

• 1890: debut of Comic Cuts, British comic magazine and first weekly comic paper
• 1928: birth of George Kashdan, American comic book writer and editor, primarily for DC Comics, who co-created such characters as Tommy Tomorrow, Mysto the Magician Detective, and others.
• 1929: birth of Piet Wijn, Dutch comics writer and artist best known for Aram and Douwe Dabbert
• 1956: birth of Dave Sim, Canadian comic book writer and artist best known for Cerebus the Aardvark
• 1962: birth of Steve Geiger, American comic book artist
• 1964: birth of Linda Medley, American comic book author and illustrator
• 1969: death of Arthur "Bugs" Baer, American cartoonist known as ghostwriter of Mutt and Jeff
• 2000: death of Dick Sprang, American comic book artist best known for his work on Batman
• 2002: death of Dave Berg, American comics artist known for the Lighter Side in Mad magazine

• ... that the 1994 video game Kajko i Kokosz, the first based on the Polish comic book series of the same name, was not playtested, and the initial release had to be recalled and replaced?
• ... that the writer of the 2022 comic book miniseries Poison Ivy, starring the eponymous Batman villain, described it as a "love story" that features "plant-based body horror"?
• ... that the robotic enemies in the video game The Incredible Hulk were influenced by Marvel Comics' objection to the Hulk killing humanoid characters?
• ... that M. Night Shyamalan's Old is based on a Swiss graphic novel that the filmmaker received as a Father's Day gift?
• ... that Jim Drucker, the founder of the world's largest online-only comic bookstore, was also the commissioner of both the Continental Basketball Association and the Arena Football League?
• ... that Joye Hummel had never read a comic book before becoming the first woman to write scripts for Wonder Woman?
• ... that until the 1970s, most shōjo manga (Japanese girls' comics) were written by men?
• ... that the Buddhist themes of David Bowie's 1967 composition "Karma Man" were compared to the Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange?

Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud, whose work Understanding Comics identified the different styles of art used within comics.

• ...that Jeff Hawke, a science fiction comic strip, almost perfectly predicted the date of the first human moon landing more than ten years before?

• ...that Thrud the Barbarian, a comic character parodying Arnold Schwarzenegger's depiction of Conan the Barbarian, (pictured) has the intelligence of a garden snail?

• ...that E. Normus Johnson is a fictional advertising mascot depicted in comic art on Big Johnson T-shirts that use double entendres?