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.
9.7.1941: Biff Baker, originally drawn by Henry Schlensker and written by Ernest Lynn, debuts as a sports feature starring a college jock who later went to war. The strip ran until 1945.
9.7.1954: Bud Fisher, of Mutt and Jeff fame, dies at 69, in New York City. In 1907, he launched what has been described as America's first successful comic strip, which survived until 1983.
9.7.1959: Bat Masterson, a spin-off from the TV series featuring the same title character, joins newspaper lineups. It survived for only about seven months.
9.7.1959: Henry Boltinoff’s Stoker the Broker debuts as a gag panel about a stockbroker. It ran until 1985.
9.7.1992: After some 60 years of working for J.C. Dithers, Dagwood Bumstead of Blondie is quitting his office job to help his wife Blondie with her catering business.
9.7.1993: Glenn McCoy unveils The Duplex. The National Cartoonists Society honored the comic with its Newspaper Comic Strip award in 2004 and again in 2011.
9.7.2013: Pete Hoffman dies in Toledo, Ohio. He was a ghost artist on Steve Roper (later titled Steve Roper and Mike Nomad) for almost nine years. During that time, his name appeared on the strip only over the course of several days in 1947.
9.7.1954: Bud Fisher, of Mutt and Jeff fame, dies at 69, in New York City. In 1907, he launched what has been described as America's first successful comic strip, which survived until 1983.
9.7.1959: Bat Masterson, a spin-off from the TV series featuring the same title character, joins newspaper lineups. It survived for only about seven months.
9.7.1959: Henry Boltinoff’s Stoker the Broker debuts as a gag panel about a stockbroker. It ran until 1985.
9.7.1992: After some 60 years of working for J.C. Dithers, Dagwood Bumstead of Blondie is quitting his office job to help his wife Blondie with her catering business.
9.7.1993: Glenn McCoy unveils The Duplex. The National Cartoonists Society honored the comic with its Newspaper Comic Strip award in 2004 and again in 2011.
9.7.2013: Pete Hoffman dies in Toledo, Ohio. He was a ghost artist on Steve Roper (later titled Steve Roper and Mike Nomad) for almost nine years. During that time, his name appeared on the strip only over the course of several days in 1947.
9.7.2023: The National Cartoonists Society recognizes Will Henry’s Wallace the Brave as the best newspaper comic strip of 2022. Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead, receives the Reuben Award as the NCS cartoonist of the year for 2022.
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.
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