The New Yorker covers: July 22, 1991

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Ann McCarthy
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Winston Churchill

Saving is a fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Frosty Morning," ca. 1813, J.M.W. Turner

Movie Posters, 2026: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: July 7

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.

7.7.1902: Ed Dodd, the creator of Mark Trail, is born in Lafayette, Georgia. The strip he launched in 1946 remains in syndication.

7.7.1902: George Herriman, the genius behind Krazy Kat, marries his childhood sweetheart, Mabel Lillian Bridge, in Los Angeles.

7.7.1937: Al Capp and Raeburn Van Buren launch Abbie an’ Slats. It ran from 1937 to 1971.

7.7.1946: Al Vermeer debuts Priscilla’s Pop, a gag-a-day strip that survived until 1983.

7.7.1977: Roy Crane, the creator of Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy,and Buz Sawyer, dies in Orlando, Florida, at 75.

7.7.1997: Zits, created by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, debuts. It focuses on the life of high-school student Jeremy Duncan. The National Cartoonists Society awarded Scott and Borgman its Newspaper Comic Strip award in 1998, 1999 and 2009.

7.7.1986: Bill Schorr retires Conrad after a four-year run. The strip was about a frog who claimed to be an enchanted prince.

7.7.2010. Barney & Clyde premieres. Created by Gene Weingarten, Dan Weingarten and David Clark, it deals with the friendship between a billionaire and a homeless man.

Zits

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.

The New Yorker covers: November 16, 1981

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Donald Reilly
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . George Washington

I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"From My Bedroom Window," 1930, Alfred Munnings

Movie Posters, 2026: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!