Today in the history of the American comic strip: December 31

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.

12.31.1941: Sol Hess, co-creator of The Nebbs, a domestic strip about the Nebbs clan, dies.

12.31.1972: Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br’er Rabbit ends its 27-year run. It featured various artists and writers over the years.
 
12.31.1985: Doonesbury characters appear on the cover of Newsweek to illustrate a story on “The Year of the Yuppie.”

12.31.1995: Bill Watterson drops Calvin and Hobbes after a 10-year run. In a letter to newspaper editors, Watterson said: "I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels."

12.31.2001: Pearls Before Swine, a comic strip by Stephan Pastis that is known for its dark humor, makes its newspaper debut in The Washington Post. More than 100 additional newspapers picked it up the following month.

12.31.2001: After less than five years of syndication, Frank Cho announces that he is pulling Liberty Meadows from newspapers while continuing it in comic books.

12.31.2001: Matt Janz premieres Out of the Gene Pool, which survived, with an eventual change in its name and focus, until 2008.

12.31.2009: Fantagraphics Books publishes The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion, by Brian M. Kane.

 

12.31.2020: The Washington Post publishes an article describing 1995 as “the year that changed comics forever.” That year, Bill Watterson, Gary Larson and Berkeley Breathed retired, respectively, Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and Outland. Larson and Breathed have since resurfaced online. 

12.31.2022: Cartoonist Tom Batik retires the Funky Winkerbean strip, which he created in 1972.

 

Calvin and Hobbes

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.