Happy Birthday Hank!

So today is Hank Williams' birthday. It's also Anne Bancroft's birthday. And Mine.

And technically the birthdate of the Constitution, if you're going by when it was signed.

And airplane fatalities were born today as well, when Orville Wright crashed his Wright Flyer, killing passenger Thomas Selfridge in 1908.

Exactly 8 years later, Baron von Richtofen will get his first of 80 confirmed kills on September 17 in the skies over France.

It's also the birthday of the bloodiest day on American soil, the Battle of Antietam, in which almost 23,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or went missing in a single day.

And on a lighter note, it's the birthday of my good friend Tony. I'm glad we share a birthday because looking forward to his birthday makes looking at my own inevitable march into decrepitude a little bit more bearable (He's older than me.)

A couple years ago I got in the habit of doing a sketch of Hank Williams each September 17th. The one above is new, and here's a few more:

And here's a one-page comic I did a while back, forgive the sacrilege.

If you think of it, toast my friend Tony tonight. And the Red Baron. And poor Thomas Selfridge and Anne Bancroft and Hank Williams and the thousands of lost souls wandering around the hills of Antietam.

Oh, and Elvira The Mistress of the Dark.

On a lighter note: I posted an archive for this newsletter so if you're new, you can go back and catch up on previous emails or send some older ones to any friends and family that you think may enjoy them.

Thanks to you all for reading, and I hope you're doing well. Feel free to let me know what you've been up to and what bloody battles share your birthday.