Today in the history of the American comic strip: August 28

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.

8.28.1904: Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, a strip written by L. Frak Baum and illustrated by Walt McDougall, is launched to promote one of Baum’s books in the Oz series.

8.28.1927: Jim Sasseville is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He worked with Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz on It’s Only a Game, a short-lived strip that Schulz created in 1957, focusing on sports and games.

8.28.1937: Frederick Burr Opper, the creator of Happy Hooligan, dies. His popular strip about a well-meaning hobo ran from 1900 to 1932.
 

Happy Hooligan

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.