Today in the history of the American comic strip: September 3

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.

9.3.1923: Mort Walker, the creator of Beetle Bailey and co-creator of Hi and Lois, is born in El Dorado, Kansas. He was named 1953 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society. The same society honored him with Newspaper Comic Strip awards in 1966 and 1969.

9.3.1962: Poet E. E. Cummings dies in North Conway, New Hampshire, at 67. In 1946, when H. Holt & Co. published the first reprints of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat in book form, Cummings wrote a lengthy introduction, providing further evidence of the strip’s popularity among intellectuals.
 
9.3.1966: Edwina Dumm’s Cap Stubbs and Tippie, a strip about a young boy and his dog that debuted in 1918, ends its run.
 
9.3.1973: George Gately unveils Heathcliff, which stars a wisecracking cat. The strip is now drawn by Peter Gallagher, Gately's nephew.

9.3.1989: Outland, by Berkeley Breathed of Bloom County fame, debuts. The strip has a short run, drawing to a close in 1995.

Beetle Bailey

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.