76 years ago, in Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures #79, Tawky Tawny made his first appearance.

Who was Tawky Tawny?  He was a humanoid Bengal tiger from India who spoke perfect English and who simply wanted to come to the United States so that he could learn about American culture.  Though Tawky Tawny is friendly and intelligent, everyone panics when they see him because he’s a humanoid tiger who talks.  It falls to Captain Marvel (in the days before D.C. bought the character and changed his name became Shazam) to track down the Tawky Tawny and discover what is going on with him.

Luckily, Captain Marvel discovers that Tawky Tawny means well and just wants to get to know people.  Captain Marvel gets him a job as a tour guide at a local museum.

Created by writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck, Tawky Tawny soon became one of Captain Marvel’s most important supporting characters.  He even got his own origin story when it was revealed that Tawky Tawny was a normal tiger until he was framed for murder.  A local shaman gave Tawny a serum that allowed him to stand upright and verbally defend himself.  For the rest of Captain Marvel’s run, Tawky Tawny was the hero’s best friend.  While Captain Marvel was the beloved hero, Tawky Tawny was the outsider who never lost his positive outlook and his intellectual curiosity.

Fawcett subsequently sold Captain Marvel and all of his supporting characters to DC Comics.  Unfortunately, DC has consistently proven themselves to be inept when it comes to bringing Tawky Tawny into their continuity.  Still, Tawky Tawny endures as a symbol of hope and optimism.

Previous Great Moments In Comic Book History:

1. Winchester Before Winchester: Swamp Thing Vol. 2 #45 “Ghost Dance” 
2. The Avengers Appear on David Letterman
3. Crisis on Campus
4. “Even in Death”
5. The Debut of Man-Wolf in Amazing Spider-Man
6. Spider-Man Meets The Monster Maker
7. Conan The Barbarian Visits Times Square
8. Dracula Joins The Marvel Universe
9. The Death of Dr. Druid
10. To All A Good Night
11. Zombie!
12. The First Appearance of Ghost Rider
13. The First Appearance of Werewolf By Night
14. Captain America Punches Hitler
15. Spider-Man No More!
16. Alex Ross Captures Galactus
17. Spider-Man And The Dallas Cowboys Battle The Circus of Crime
18. Goliath Towers Over New York
19. NFL SuperPro is Here!
20. Kickers Inc. Comes To The World Outside Your Window
21. Captain America For President
22. Alex Ross Captures Spider-Man
23. J. Jonah Jameson Is Elected Mayor of New York City
24. Captain America Quits
25. Spider-Man Meets The Fantastic Four
26. Spider-Man Teams Up With Batman For The Last Time
27. The Skrulls Are Here
28. Iron Man Meets Thanos and Drax The Destroyer
29. A Vampire Stalks The Night
30. Swamp Thing Makes His First Cover Appearance
31. Tomb of Dracula #43
32. The Hulk Makes His Debut
33. Iron Man #182