Craig Shutt (born 22 May 1954, USA) is a comics editor and commentator.

He is known for his column ‘Ask Mr. Silver Age’ in the “Comics Buyer’s Guide”, which appeared from 1993 to the final issue of the magazine in 2013. Some of the columns were collected in “Baby Boomer Comics” (Krause, 2003).

He has also written for “Wizard”, “Comic Book Marketplace”, “Hogan’s Alley”, and other magazines.

At Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Shutt
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/ya67awzw

Cover from Dr. Wonder #3

Arthur Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930, UK) was a physician who is best remembered for his writing, most prominently the stories of the detective Sherlock Holmes.

He also wrote science fiction stories, stage plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.

His works and characters have frequently been adapted to other media, including comics.

At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/ybonbfyu

Cover from Classic Comics #33 - Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Mark Crilley (21 May 1966, USA) creates comic books and children’s books.

His famous character ‘Akiko’ came to life while he was teaching in Taiwan and Japan in the early 1990s. The comics series “Akiko” (Sirius Entertainment, 1995–2004) was nominated for 13 Eisner Awards during its run. There have also been a series of “Akiko” novels.

His other works include “Miki Falls” (HarperTeen, 2007), a four-volume manga.

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/crilley_mark.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crilley
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y9fx4j4w

Cover from Akiko #21

Lee Elias (21 May 1920 – 8 April 1998, UK; USA) was a comics artist who worked in comic books and in syndicated strips.

His family emigrated to the USA when he was young. He studied music and art at the Cooper Union and the Art Students League and began publishing in comics books in the early 1940s.

He appeared in Fiction House comics from 1943 to 1946. He drew “Black Cat” (Harvey) from her second issue in 1946 through the early 1950s. His striking art style on the stuntwoman-turned-crimefighter was influenced by Milt Caniff (whom he had once assisted) and Noel Sickles.

During this time, he also drew ‘The Flash’ (Jay Garrick) in “All-Flash” and “Flash Comics” (DC, 1947–1948).

He created the brilliant science-fiction newspaper strip ‘Beyond Mars’ with writer Jack Williamson (1952–1955).

He returned to DC to draw ‘Green Arrow’ (1959–1964), ‘Cave Carson’ (1964), ‘Adam Strange’ (1964–1965), and stories in the science fiction, mystery, and romance anthology comics.

He and Bob Haney co-created ‘Eclipso’ in “House of Secrets” (1963) — Alex Toth became the artist with the third story.

In the late 1970s, he drew “Power Man” (1977–1979) and other comics at Marvel. His last major project was “The Rook Magazine” (Warren, 1979–1982).

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/e/elias_lee.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Elias
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y9v85cuk

Cover from Chamber of Chills Magazine #6

Frank Bellamy (21 May 1917 – 5 July 1976, UK) was a comics artist whose career began in the late 1940s.

He began publishing in “Eagle” in 1959, where he would co-create features such as ‘Fraser of Africa’ (1960–1961) and ‘Heros the Spartan’ (1962–1965).

He drew ‘Thunderbirds’ in “TV Century 21” / “TV21” (1966–1968) and he drew the newspaper strip ‘Garth’ in the “Daily Mirror” from 1971 until his death in 1976.

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bellamy_frank.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bellamy
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y7b58j4t

Cover from TV Century 21 #57

Don Trachte (21 May 1915 – 4 May 2005, USA) was a comics creator known for producing the syndicated strip ‘Henry’ for half a century.

He became an assistant to veteran comics creator Carl Anderson in 1932, which is when Anderson created ‘Henry’.

Anderson retired in 1942 and Trachte took over creating the Sunday strip, which he continued to do until 1993. (The daily strip was taken over by another longtime assistant, John Liney.)

At Comiclopedia — https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/trachte_don.htm
At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Trachte
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y7lhku7d

Cover from Family Funnies #6

Shirley Bellwood (20 May 1931 – 1 February 2016, UK) was a comics artist and painter.

She worked in comics from the 1950s, notably drawing covers for the girls’ horror title “Misty” (IPC). She also published in “Valentine” (Amalgamated, etc.), “Mirabelle” (IPC), and other comics.

Her painting included portraits of prominent politicians and she was exhibited at the Contemporary Portrait Society and the Royal Portrait Society. She also painted still lifes.

At Women in Comics — http://womenincomics.wikia.com/wiki/Shirley_Bellwood
In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/ycv2xmvh

Cover from Misty #25th February 1978 [4]

Gardner Fox (20 May 1911 – 24 December 1986, USA) was a fiction writer best known for his work in comic books, pulp short stories, and novels.

His career at DC Comics began at least as early as the summer of 1938, when he had stories in “New Adventure Comics” #27, “Action Comics” #1, and “Detective Comics” #18. Of his nearly 4000 story credits in the GCD, about 2500 are in comics from DC.

Fox is known as the co-creator of the original, Golden Age characters The Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Sandman. He was also the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America.

He was one of the main writers of the Silver Age revival of DC super-heroes, as well. He wrote the story in “The Flash” #123 (September 1961) which established that there are multiple versions of the DC Universe, with the first two christened Earth-1 and Earth-2.

After leaving DC in 1968, Fox returned to his prose fiction roots. In the 1940s, he had published in “Weird Tales”, “Amazing Stories”, and a multitude of pulps in other genres.

Now, he wrote barbarian adventure series — “Kothar” novels at Belmont Books and then “Kyrik” at Leisure Books. Roy Thomas adapted one of his Kothar stories in “Conan the Barbarian” in 1975.

At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardner_Fox
‘Gardner Fox’ in the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/yb9zevn9
‘Gardner F. Fox’ in the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/yc53wtfj

Cover from Mystery in Space #31

Gail Beckett (born 20 May 1942) is a comics letterer and occasional colorist who worked in USA comics in the 1980s and 1990s.

From 1983 to 1997, she lettered for Dan Barry on the ‘Flash Gordon’ syndicated daily and Sunday strips.

In comic books, she lettered “Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis” and “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” at Dark Horse in 1991 and 1992. She worked on some 15 issues for Continuity Comics alone in 1993.

Beckett lettered “Godwheel” and other titles at Malibu. Her other publishers include DC Comics, Marvel, and Penthouse.

In the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y7l46hvt

Cover from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles #7

‘Busy Arnold’ was the nickname of Everett M. Arnold (20 May 1899 – December 1974, USA), a businessman involved in the very early USA comic-book industry.

After working a dozen years selling printing presses, he co-founded a printing house in 1930 that produced color comics sections for newspapers. In 1936, he was a financial backer of Comics Magazine Company (1936–1937), publisher of “Funny Pages” and other comics.

In 1937, he partnered with three syndicates to found Comic Favorites, renamed Comic Magazines in 1939 when he became 50% owner. In 1940, the company began using the Quality Comics brand.

Late in 1939, Arnold brought Will Eisner and quite a few artists from the Eisner-Iger Studio to Quality. He also facilitated Eisner’s creation of the ‘Spirit’ comic-book section that was syndicated to newspapers.

The work of Eisner, Lou Fine, Nick Cardy, Bob Powell, Chuck Cuidera and other skilled artists defined the Quality line — “Smash Comics”, “Crack Comics”, “National Comics”, “Military Comics” (later “Modern Comics”), and other series.

The features included ‘Uncle Sam’, ‘Plastic Man’, ‘Kid Eternity’, ‘Blackhawk’, ‘Doll Man’, ‘The Ray’, and ‘Phantom Lady’. Many Quality characters were acquired by DC and continue to appear in comics today.

In the late 1950s, he founded Arnold Publishing and produced digest-size prose magazines such as “Homicide Detective Story Magazine”. Arnold retired in the early 1960s.

At Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_M._%22Busy%22_Arnold
Comics Magazine Company in the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y7z7p44z
Quality Comics in the GCD — https://tinyurl.com/y9w8rar2

Cover from Smash Comics #2