The New Yorker covers: July 16, 1938

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.

Perry Barlow
(covers untitled until February 1993)

The (old) Down East covers: April 1985

Ever since its founding in 1954, Down East has billed itself as “the magazine of Maine.” There are other Maine-centered mags, but Down East remains the most prominent of the bunch. Nowadays, the Rockport-based monthly features glossy, memorable cover photos, but there's a lot to be said for the charming, old-timey look of covers from the publication’s early decades.

Robert Stebleton, "Monhegan Dories"

Movie Posters, 2007: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

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

"Young Woman with Peonies," 1870, Frédéric Bazille 

Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 27

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.

4.27.1890: Dudley Fisher is born in Columbus, Ohio. Right Around Home, which he launched as a Sunday strip in 1937, ran until 1964, with name changes along the way. A daily version titled Myrtle began in 1942.

4.27.1958: Rick O’Shay, a Western strip created by Stan Lynde, debuts with a Sunday strip. A daily feature began about two months later.

4.27.2016: The Library of American Comics releases the first of three volumes reprinting the Silly Symphonies comic strip, which ran from 1932 to 1942 as an adaptation of the animated short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939.

4.27.2020: Mark Tatulli, who launched Heart of the City in 1998, turns the strip over to Christina “Steenz” Stewart, whose drawing style is quite different than Tatulli’s. The switch makes Stewart one of the few female African-American cartoonists with a mainstream newspaper strip.
 
4.27.2020: The New York Times runs a story about the COVID-19 pandemic finally working its way into daily comic strips, based on interviews with several cartoonists. They include Mark Tatulli (Lio), Ray Billingsley (Curtis), Bill Hinds (Tank McNamara), Tony Carrillo (F Minus), Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha) and Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine).

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 birth of an artist: April 27

 

Samuel Morse
April 27, 1791

Ludwig Bemelmans
April 27, 1898

Theodor Kittelsen
April 27, 1857

Howard Everett Smith
April 27, 1985

The New Yorker covers: July 25, 1925

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.

H.O. Hofman
(covers untitled until February 1993)

The (old) Down East covers: June 1975

Ever since its founding in 1954, Down East has billed itself as “the magazine of Maine.” There are other Maine-centered mags, but Down East remains the most prominent of the bunch. Nowadays, the Rockport-based monthly features glossy, memorable cover photos, but there's a lot to be said for the charming, old-timey look of covers from the publication’s early decades.

Claude Montgomery, untitled