1962 in comics

Publications

January

• January 3: Suat Yalaz's Karaoğlan makes its debut.
• January 15: René Goscinny and Jean Tabary's Iznogoud makes its debut. Originally the caliph Haroun El Poussah is the title character, but Iznogoud soon becomes so popular that the series is renamed after him.
• January 20: The first issue of the British magazine Look and Learn is published. It will run until 1982.
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #8 – Marvel Comics
• Fantastic Four #2 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #76 - Marvel Comics
• #102 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #92 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #25 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #27 - Marvel Comics

  February

• February 8: Jean Roba's La Ribambelle debuts in Spirou.
• Aquaman #1 — DC Comics
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #9 - Marvel Comics
• Help! vol. 2, #1 — Warren Publishing
• Journey into Mystery #77 - Marvel Comics
• Rawhide Kid #26 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #93 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #26 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #28 - Marvel Comics

  March

• March 22: In Pilote, the first chapter of Asterix the gladiator, by Goscinny and Uderzo is prepublished. The story marks the debut of the pirates, whose unlucky encounters with the gauls will become a running gag in each album.
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #10 - Marvel Comics
• Cave of Ali Baba, by Carl Barks, on Uncle Scrooge #37 - Dell Comics.
• Fantastic Four #3 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #78 - Marvel Comics
• Kid Colt: Outlaw #103 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #94 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #27 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #29 - Marvel Comics
• The Italian editor Luciano Secchi debuts as an author with the western series Maschera nera, designed by Paolo Piffarerio and published by Editoriale Corno. For the occasion, the writer takes the pen name Max Bunker.

  April

• April 13: Hugo Pratt's Fort Wheeling debuts in the Argentine review Misterix
• The final issue of the American comics magazine The Funnies is published.
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #11 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #79 - Marvel Comics
• Rawhide Kid #27 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #95 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #28 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #30 - Marvel Comics

  May

• May 10: In Spirou, the first chapter of The Daltons in the blizzard, by Goscinny and Morris is prepublished.
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #12 - Marvel Comics
• Fantastic Four #4 - Marvel Comics
• The Incredible Hulk #1 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #80 - Marvel Comics
• #104 - Marvel Comics
• The Lone Ranger, with issue #145, cancelled by Dell Comics
• Strange Adventures #140, "The Strange Adventure That Really Happened," featuring DC Comics staff members Julius Schwartz and Sid Greene struggling to make writer Gardner Fox recall a story he has written that holds the key to saving the Earth from alien invasion.
• Strange Tales #96 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #29 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #31 - Marvel Comics

  June

• June 21: Carmen Barbará's Mary Noticias is first published.
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #13 - Marvel Comics
• Rawhide Kid #28 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #97 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #30 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #32 - Marvel Comics
• The unsafe safe, by Carl Barks, on Uncle Scrooge #38 - Dell comics

  July

• July 20: Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia's prologue story Ezra Winston el anticuario is first published and features the debut of Ezra Winston.
• The final episode of Don Freeman and Jack Monk's Buck Ryan is published.
• Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 - Marvel Comics
• Fantastic Four #5 - Marvel Comics
• The Incredible Hulk #2 - Marvel Comics
• Kid Colt: Outlaw #105 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #98 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #31 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #33 - Marvel Comics
• With issue #131, Dell Comics cancels Tarzan.

  August

• August 17: Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia's Mort Cinder makes its debut.
• The final issue of Classics Illustrated Junior is published.
• Amazing Fantasy #15 renamed from Amazing Adult Fantasy - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #83 - Marvel Comics
• Rawhide Kid #29 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #99 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #32 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #34 - Marvel Comics

  September

• September 5:
• * The first issue of the Flemish comics magazine Pats is published. It's a weekly children's supplement of the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard, Het Handelsblad, De Gentenaar and De Landwacht. It will run until 27 February 1974, after which it changes its name to the Patskrant.
• * Inside the first issue of Pats Willy Vandersteen's comics series Pats makes its debut.
• September 15: The final issue of the British comics magazine Film Fun is published, which merges with Buster.
• First issue of Gatto Felix, a licensed version of Felix the cat, by Italian authors.
• Fantastic Four #6 - Marvel Comics
• The Incredible Hulk #3 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #84 - Marvel Comics
• Kid Colt: Outlaw #106 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #100 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales Annual #1 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #33 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #35 - Marvel Comics

  October

• October 6: The first issue of the British comics magazine Valiant is published. It will run until 16 October 1976.
• Fantastic Four #7 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #85 - Marvel Comics
• Little Annie Fanny by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder makes its debut in Playboy.
• Rawhide Kid #30 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #101 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #34 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #36 - Marvel Comics
• In Italy, the first issue of ''Collana eroica, is published by Editoriale Dardo.

  November

• November 1: Il re del terrore, the first issue of Angela and Luciana Giussani's Diabolik is published.
• November 1: In Spirou, the first chapter of the Lucky Luke story The Wagon Train by Goscinny and Morris is prepublished.
• November 22: The Suske en Wiske story Het Rijmende Paard by Willy Vandersteen is first published in the newspapers. Halfway the story the series' nemesis Krimson makes his debut.
• Fantastic Four #8 - Marvel Comics
• The Incredible Hulk #4 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #86 - Marvel Comics
• Kid Colt: Outlaw #107 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #102 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #35 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #37 - Marvel Comics
• Two-Gun Kid #60 - Marvel Comics
• With issue #132, Gold Key Comics begins publishing Tarzan, which it acquired from Dell Comics.

  December

• December 10: Willy Vandersteen's western comics series Karl May, based on the novels by Karl May, is launched and will run until 1977.
• December 20: The first episode of Hubuc and Jacques Devos' Victor Sébastopol is published in Spirou.
• December 29: The final episode of Al Capp and Bob Lubbers 's Long Sam is published.
• Fantastic Four #9 - Marvel Comics
• Journey into Mystery #87 - Marvel Comics
• Rawhide Kid #31 - Marvel Comics
• Strange Tales #103 - Marvel Comics
• Tales of Suspense #36 - Marvel Comics
• Tales to Astonish #38 - Marvel Comics

  Specific date unknown

• Gene Deitch's Maly Svet runs in Kvety, the official weekly of the Czech Communist Party for 12 episodes, after which it is discontinued because of its veiled satire of Communism.

  Deaths

January

• January 13: Ernie Kovacs, American comedian and comics writer, dies at age 42 in a car accident.
• January 22: Jack Patton, American comics artist, dies at age 61.

  February

• February 12: Ding Darling, American cartoonist and comics artist, dies at age 85.
• February 14: James Crighton, Scottish comics artist, passes away at age 70.

  March

• March 2: J.F. Horrabin, British comics artist, cartoonist and writer, dies at age 77.
• March 5: Cornelis Veth, Dutch painter, cartoonist, journalist, writer and illustrator, dies at age 82.

  April

• April 18: Don Wootton, American comics artist, commits suicide at age 66.
• April 21:
• * Bob McCay, American comics artist, dies at age 65.
• * Bob Wickersham, American animator and comics artist, dies at age 50.
• April 25: Billy Cam, American comics artist, dies at age 70.

  May

• May 12: Dick Calkins, American comics artist, dies at age 67.
• May 22: John H. Striebel, American comics artist, dies at age 79.
• May 24: Vic Forsythe, American comics artist, dies at age 76.

  August

• August 5: John Willie, British photographer and comics artist, dies at age 59.

  September

• September 17: Harry L. Parkhurst, American illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 86.
• September 26: George Carlson, American comics artist, dies at age 84 or 85.
• September 28: Bernardo Marques, Portuguese painter and comics artist, dies at age 64.

  October

• Specific date unknown: Forest A. McGinn, American comics artist, dies at age 69.

  November

• November 2: Kurt Ludwig Schmidt, aka Becker-Kasch, German comics artist, dies at age 53.
• November 4: Guillermo Cifré, Spanish comics artist, dies at age 39.
• November 9: Emile Brumsteede, Dutch film director and comics artist, dies at age 51.
• November 17: Albéric Bourgeois, Canadian comics artist, passes away at age 86.

  December

• December 12: David Bueno de Mesquita, Dutch graphic artist, illustrator and comics artist, passes away at age 73.

  Specific date unknown

• Arch Dale, Scottish-Canadian cartoonist and comics artist, dies at age 79 or 80.
• Guido Moroni-Celsi, Italian comics artist, dies at age 77.
• Hal Rasmusson, American illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 61 or 62.
• Robert Q. Sale, American comics artist, dies at age 37 or 38.
• H.M. Talintyre, British comics artist, dies at age 68 or 69.

  First issues by title

Initial appearances by character name

Marvel Comics

• Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #35
• Aunt May in Amazing Fantasy #15
• Balder in Journey into Mystery #85
• Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk #1
• Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four #5
• Egghead in Tales to Astonish #38
• Henry "Hank" Pym in Tales to Astonish #27
• Hulk in The Incredible Hulk #1
• Loki in Journey into Mystery #85
• Odin in Journey into Mystery #85
• Puppet Master in Fantastic Four #8
• Rick Jones in The Incredible Hulk #1
• Sif in Journey into Mystery #85
• Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15
• the Skrulls in Fantastic Four #2
• Thor in Journey into Mystery #83
• Thunderbolt Ross in The Incredible Hulk #1
• Uncle Ben in Amazing Fantasy #15
• the Wizard in Strange Tales #102
• Zarrko the Tomorrow Man in Journey into Mystery #86

  DC Comics

• Doctor Light , in Justice League of America #12
• The Floronic Man, in Atom #01
• Felix Faust, in Justice League of America #10
• Abra Kadabra , in The Flash #128
• Will Magnus, in Showcase #37
• Chronos , in Atom #07
• Chemo , in Showcase #39
• Ultra Boy, in Superboy #98
• Matter-Eater Lad, in Adventure Comics #303
• Metal Men, in Showcase #37
• Storm Boy, in Adventure Comics #301
• Chameleon Chief, in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #63

  Other publishers

• Wonder Wart-Hog, in Bachannal
• Whitewater Duck, in Log Jockey by Carl Barks
• Diabolik, by the Giussani sisters, in King of terror
• Inspector Ginko, Diabolik's antagonist, in King of terror