Happy Birthday, Tom Spurgeon!

You would have been 52 today, and we all still miss you.

You would have been 52 today, and we all still miss you.
Yes, we know. But he would have done it for us. Miss you, fella.
Just thought I’d break in here to mention that we’ve got a brand new ComicMixer aboard. Colton Mikel Fishman entered the world less than two hours ago, at 3:50 CST. He’s 18″ long, 7 pounds even, and the whole family is doing swell. Bennett is now a brother, Mama Kathy is happily exhausted, and Daddy Marc is excited and confused.
We-all here at ComicMix wish our li’l nephew and his family the absolute best. And I’m hoping to see more comic books out there for zero year-olds!
A long time ago in a reality far, far away, a small child was placed in an experimental rocket ship so that he and he alone (sort of) could escape his dying home planet. As such, he became the last of his people (sort of) and, when he landed on the planet Earth he was imbued with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men⦠as well as several mortal women.
This is not the story of that man.
Today, Glenn Hauman is just three years shy of a half-century. Born barely before the first lunar landing and the Woodstock festival that wasnât even in Woodstock (and nor was Glenn), the child started growing and as far as science can discern, he has yet to stop.
Armed with a mind that never stops churning that is fueled by the heart of a saint, Glenn took his massive aptitude to the wonderful world of geekdom. He is, has been and someday will be again a writer, and his output includes many Star Trek and X-Men prose stories. (Note: âproseâ is like comic books, but they are lacking in art, color and balloons.) Heâs a publisher, a website creator, something of an editor, and easily the best production manager the comics world has seen in decades.
Heâs also a rabid liberal who, in 1997, sued Attorney General Janet Reno over the Communications Decency Act, an early attempt to impose government censorship onto the Internet. This one went all the way to the Supreme Court, where all nine justices sided with Glenn (and the ACLU) and against the Congress and the White House.
Somehow, Hauman was lucky enough to convince a woman way above his reach to take his hand, and much of the rest of his body, in marriage. People who have grown tired of Glenn still hang around to appreciate Brandyâs presence.
During his term at DC Comics, he met a handsome and debonair aging hippie who, in the words of Jim Shooter, could sell refrigerators to Eskimos. The record is not clear: either they teamed up or Glenn was kidnapped. Or, perhaps, blackmailed. Most likely, all three. Together they worked to create all sorts of projects that were as befuddling as they were unique.
No one knows that manâs name. Glenn would be well rid of him, if only he could. But the two of them, joined by people such as Brian Alvey and Martha Thomases, found ComicMix LLC, which, since you are reading these words, remains extant.
We wish Glenn the best on his birthday, particularly now that heâs officially pushing 50.
Since you are reading this, that means Rob Ernst aka The Tweeks’ Dad has failed at his attempts this week to build a time machine. And therefore, Maddy and Anya, ComicMix’s resident Twin Tween Geeks, have turned 13 today! Making them our resident Twin Teen Geeks!
The girls started their birthday celebrations at Long Beach Comic Con when they were gifted a photo op with John Barrowman, whom they adore.
The birthday fun continued this weekend, when Maddy & Anya along with their mom, Jen, attended the 3 day posh Kaboo Festival. Headliners included No Doubt, The Killers and Zac Brown Band.
Happy happy 13th Birthday Maddy and Anya from your ComicMix family!!
There are those of you who doubted he’d make it. Hah! Hah, we say!
Harlan Ellison, writer, raconteur, gadfly, screenwriter, actor, power forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, and a character in The Dark Knight Returns, Freakazoid, Concrete, The Simpsons, and Scooby Doo, celebrates his 80th birthday today. Yes, he’s been striking terror into the hearts of mere mortals for eight decades.
We don’t even know where to start with his list of accomplishments. If you’ve never read anything from him, go read his [[[Dream Corridor]]] comic collections, or [[[Phoenix Without Ashes]]], or watch some of his videos from his days on the Sci-Fi Channel here.
He even thanks you for your birthday wishes:
And here’s the cover to his Incredible Hulk #140, drawn by Herb Trimpe, who celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday! Congrats to both of you!
One hundred years ago today in Spokane, Washington, Charles Martin “Chuck” Jones was born. It is quite possible there has not been a more widely influential artist in the twentieth century.
We could easily list his over three hundred cartoons that he directed; we could talk about all of the influential cartoons that he didn’t do for Warner Brothers– Pogo, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Dot and the Line, and revitalizing Tom & Jerry; we could mention his creation and co-creations Private Snafu, Charlie Dog, Hubie and Bertie, The Three Bears, Claude Cat, Marc Antony and Pussyfoot, Charlie Dog, Michigan J. Frog, Marvin the Martian, Pepe LePew, the Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote; we could discuss his educational work with The Electric Company and Curiosity Shop and his works with Dr. Seuss, not to mention the multiple generations of animators he taught and trained– but we’ll simply note that three of his shorts (Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening and What’s Opera, Doc?) have been inducted into the National Film Registry.
Here, let Chuck show you how to draw Bugs Bunny:
And since this is in the public domain, we can show The Dover Boys at Pimento University in its entirety:
And here’s a Chuck Jones cartoon you probably haven’t seen, Hell-Bent for Election:
I was honored to have shaken Mr. Jones’s hand in 1993, and I owe him a tremendous debt. We honor him today. Chuck Jones… soooooooper-genius.
And we’re not just talking about the new site here…
We’d like to welcome Caleigh Elizabeth, daughter of ComicMix colorist and flatter Shannon Weaver (Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes Of Eden, Munden’s Bar) and her husband Tom.
Baby Caleigh was born at 8:47am on Wednesday, weighing 7lbs, 6oz and measuring 19 inches long. Baby is doing very well, mom was sending out updates from her phone mere hours later.
Our warmest congratulations to the happy family.

Since Tom and The Comics Reporter wishes everybody else in the industry happy birthday, we have to make sure that someone wishes him one… and if we don’t, who will?
Go read his stuff and enjoy.