Happy 60th birthday, Stephen King!
On this day in 1947, Stephen Edwin King, a.k.a. "Richard Bachman", "John Swithen", and "that guy who looks like Frankenstein trying to play rhythm guitar for the Rock Bottom Remainders" was born. Presumably, it was under a full moon with howling wolves and eldritch fog in the distance…
King is best known to comics fans today for the Marvel adaptation of his Dark Tower series, but long time readers know him for the adaptations of Lawnmower Man by Walt Simonson and his adaptation of Creepshow with Berni Wrightson, and his contribution to Heroes For Hope and Heroes Against Hunger.
But only the trivia obsessed fan knows about King’s first attempt to break into Marvel. Way back in the 70’s, he pitched a X-Men story about this teenage girl who just discovered her telekinetic abilities, and the story was rejected by editor Marv Wolfman. The teenage girl got written into a stand-alone horror novel named Carrie, and… well, he got pretty well known pretty darn quick. Although, if this is to be believed, not quickly enough: