Today in the history of the American comic strip: March 2

American cartoonists and writers may not have invented the comic strip, but some argue that the comics, as we know them today, are an American creation. Clearly, the United States has played an outsize role in the development of this underappreciated art form.

3.2.1904: Theodor Geisel is born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Before he became famous as Dr. Seuss, he produced a comic strip in 1935 called Hejji, which lasted a mere three months.

3.2.1917: Alex Graham, the Scottish cartoonist who created Fred Basset, is born. His strip launched in 1963 and remains in syndication.

3.2.1938: King of the Royal Mounted, which debuted in 1935 as a Sunday strip about a Canadian Mountie who always gets his man, adds a daily feature.

3.2.1953: Rivets, George Sixta’s comic about a friendly mutt, begins its run as a daily strip. A Sunday page was added a few years later.

3.2.1958: Tiny Tim is canceled, following the 1957 death of creator Stanley Link, who introduced the comic in 1931. The strip followed the adventures of two siblings who, initially, were only two inches tall.
 
3.2.1970: Conchy, a strip created by James Childress, debuts. It focused on a bunch of beachcombers stuck on a desert island.

3.2.1985: Gordo, created by Mexican-American artist Gustavo "Gus" Arriola, ends its run after more than four decades. It introduced American readers to Mexican culture.
 

Fred Basset

Most of the information listed here from one day to the next comes from two online sites -- Wikipedia, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia -- as well as 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, edited by Maurice Horn. Note that my focus is on American newspaper comic strips (and the occasional foreign strip that gained popularity in the United States). Thus, comic books and exclusively online comics are not included here.