Happy Birthday: George Freeman
Born in Canada in 1951, George Freeman didn’t start out in comic books. He was actually designing tombstones in 1975 when he encountered the first issue of a new Canadian comic book, Captain Canuck. Intrigued, Freeman went to see series artist and co-creator Richard Comely in Winnipeg.
Comely was impressed by Freeman’s art samples and hired him on—Freeman colored the second issue, inked the third issue, and penciled and inked the fourth issue. When Comely moved to Cardston, Alberta in fall 1976 to run the local weekly newspaper, Freeman and colorist/inker/French translator Jean-Claude St. Aubin moved with him and got jobs on the paper while continuing the comic.
A few months later, they left Cardston for Calgary, which was less to Freeman’s liking—he returned to Winnipeg instead. He rejoined the Captain Canuck team in early 1979.
Captain Canuck ended with issue #14 in 1981 and Freeman moved on to other comic book work. He drew Green Lantern, Aquaman, Jack of Hearts, and The Avengers, drew a story in Batman Annual #11, and was one of the artists on the horror comic anthology Wasteland.
He also worked on the Elric series for First Comics, the Black Orchid series for Vertigo, and more recently, the Albion series for Wildstorm, among others. In 1996 Freeman was nominated for an Eisner for Best Colorist on The X-Files.
Born in Waymore, Nebraska, Randolph William “Ralph” Dibny grew up admiring escape artists and contortionists. He desperately wished he could emulate their agility and flexibility. 
The Burrs were vacationing in India despite Mrs. Burr’s advanced pregnancy. Her condition attracted the attention of the Cobra Cult because the timing coincided with a prophecy about a man who would lead them into the Kali Yuga, the fourth age of the world. He would be one of a pair of Siamese twins, and Mrs. Burr was carrying such a pair. 
“Mike” Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho was born in 1963 in Campina Grande, Brazil. His father, also an artist, first introduced him to the work of people like Will Eisner and Alex Raymond, and taught young Deodato how to draw. 
Georges Prosper Remi was born in Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium in 1907. He was still in school during World War I, when Brussels was occupied by the Germans, and doodled images of the invaders in his notebooks. 
Some people hope to take after their parents—others hope they don’t. For Beautia Sivana the latter seems more likely. 
Zatanna Zatara learned early on that magic was in her blood—but she had no idea how right she was. 
George “Digger” Harkness was born to an American soldier and an Australian woman. An illegitimate child, Harkness grew up in poverty but quickly discovered a talent for both crafting and using boomerangs. 
Charles McNider was a brilliant doctor and surgeon who believed in doing the right thing. He was removing a bullet from a mob witness one night when mobsters threw a grenade into the room, killing the witness and blinding McNider.
