Monday Holiday Madness PRESIDENTS' DAY...the Holiday that Combines TWO Presidents' Birthdays!

Before they combined Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into a "floating" holiday...

...Washington's Birthday was always celebrated each year on Feb 22nd...

...and Lincoln's Birthday was always on February 12th!

Why the change?

USA Today has an explanation HERE!

Since this is a comics blog, let's get back on-topic!

These two features appeared in a 1956 comic called "Every Day's a Holly Day"

(No, it's not a typo...as you can see!)

Why was it called that instead of "Every Day's a Holiday"?

Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!

Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!

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Cartoon History of the United States

Reading Room EVERY DAY IS A HOLLY DAY "Lincoln's Birthday"

Before they combined Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into a "floating" holiday...

...Lincoln's Birthday was celebrated each year on this date!

Why is this comic entitled "Every Day is a Holly Day" instead of "Every Day is a Holiday"?

Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!

Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including both Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays (before they were combined into "Presidents' Day"), Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!

We'll be presenting the other chapters on the dates they fall upon.

Watch for them!

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Cartoon History of the United States

Spend President's Day with the Greatest President of All!

We ran this 100-page, never-reprinted story...

...featuring art by the legendary John Buscema immediately after the 2012 Presidental Elections.

You can read it right before President's Day HERE!

Bonus: another, shorter, never-reprinted tale about Abe Lincoln by John Buscema HERE!

Reading Room FORBIDDEN WORLDS "Madman--or Psychic?'

Our final (we swear) Abraham Lincoln-themed story...

...is this never-reprinted piece from ACG's Forbidden Worlds #90 (1960), probably written by editor Richard Hughes and definitely illustrated by George Klein.
OK, I got a bit carried away with this theme, but I didn't even touch the stories where superheroes (Kal-El tried it twice, both as Superman and Superboy) try to go back in time to avert the assassination...

Reading Room UNKNOWN WORLDS "Man Who Could Fortell Death!"

There are so many comic tales relating to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln...

...that our blog is overflowing with them!

This never-reprinted tale from ACG's Unknown Worlds #17 (1962) by writer "Zev Zimmer" (actually editor Richard Hughes, who wrote almost all of ACG's output) and artist Tom Hickey was one of several Lincoln-themed stories ACG published in their anthologies.

Reading Room WORLD AROUND US: CIVIL WAR "An April Day"

Our final entry is a straightforward text feature not unlike some history books' telling of the tale...

This never-reprinted page from World Around Us: The Civil War (1960) was the next-to-last chapter in the oversized graphic reteling of the events leading up to and following the Civil War as well as the war itself.

Though most of the artists who contributed to other sections are easily recognizable (including Sam Glanzman, Gray Morrow, and Angelo Torres, the illustrator of this text feature (as well as the writer) is unknown.

Reading Room HOUSE OF MYSTERY "Second Death of Abraham Lincoln"

For the past couple of days, we've been presenting straightforward retellings of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln...

...but that's about to change.

It's gonna be a looong vacation, since he screwed up his job as Abraham Lincoln by "breaking character"...one of the worst faux pas an actor can commit!

Written by Arnold Drake and illustrated by Leonard Starr, this cover-featured story from DC's House of Mystery #51 (1956) is one of several stories where people from the present become involved either in the actual assassination or recreations of it.

Be here tomorow for another comic book story about the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Reading Room LIFE STORIES OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS "End of the Civil War & Death of Lincoln"

Here's a shorter version of the tale we told on Saturday...

BTW, did you note that, at the top of the page, Grant and Lee have the wrong uniform colors?

Though the author is unknown, the artist who penciled and inked the entire 100-page cavalcade of Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower in Dell's never-reprinted one-shot, Life Stories of Ameican Presidents (1957), was John Buscema!

Be here tomorrow for another look at the Assassination of the President...

Reading Room: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: LIFE STORY "End of the Civil War & Asssassination"

Most people don't realize that the end of the Civil War and the murder of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 were less than 1 week apart!

This section of Dell's never-reprinted one-shot Abraham Lincoln: Life Story (1958) was written by Gaylord DuBois, pencilled by John Buscema, and inked by Alberto Giolitti.
Be here next week as we present a number of graphic visions of Lincoln's final day...

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Reading Room: LIFE STORIES OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS "Abraham Lincoln"

There's no better way to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday...

..than to read his life story.

Note: there are a few politically-incorrect panels referring to African-Americans as "Negro", which was the accepted term in the 1950s.

BTW, did you note that, at the top of the last page of the story, Grant and Lee have the wrong uniform colors?

Dell's never-reprinted Life Stories of American Presidents (1957) was both sold on newsstands and distributed to bookstores (where I found my copy in 1963), a rarity in those days.

Though the author is unknown, the artist who penciled and inked the entire 100-page cavalcade of Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower was John Buscema!

Reading Room: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: LIFE STORY "Conclusion"

When Last We Left Our President...

War has come to America.

But it is not America versus an invader, but brother against brother as Southern states secede and form the Confederate States of America.

The recently-inaugurated President faces a challenge no other American leader before or since has dealt with...winning a civil war and somehow reuniting both sides into one nation!

This section of Dell's never-reprinted one-shot Abraham Lincoln: Life Story (1958) was written by Gaylord DuBois, pencilled by John Buscema, and inked by Alberto Giolitti.

Go see the new Steven Spielberg-directed feature film starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe opening all over the country tomorrow!

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