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.
3.19.1934: Red Barry, a detective strip by Will Gould, debuts. One of several comics introduced to compete with Dick Tracy, it ran until 1939.
3.19.1984: Bill Holbrook introduces On the Fastrack, which examines life in the corporate world by focusing on the folks at Fastrack Inc.
3.19.1989: Ethel Hays dies at 97. She specialized in flapper-themed comic strips, and later became an accomplished illustrator of children’s books.
3.19.1993: Al McWilliams, the artist who created Dateline: Danger! with writer John Saunders, and Twin Earths with writer Oskar Lebeck, dies. He was 77.
3.19.2006: Watch Your Head goes into syndication. Created by Cory Thomas, it focused on the lives of six students at a fictional historically black university. The strip ended its newspaper run in 2014, but later resurfaced online.
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.
