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

"Water Lilies," 1919, Claude Monet

Movie Posters, 2025: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: September 15

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.

9.5.1918: Fred McCarthy, a Franciscan cartoonist, is born in Massachusetts. His comic about a cheerful friar, Brother Juniper, made the move from a Franciscan magazine to newspapers in 1958, and ran until 1989.

9.15.1931: Fifteen leading newspaper cartoonists appear on an NBC radio program in which each cartoonist speaks for 90 seconds. Some of the participants: Billy Debeck, Rube Goldberg, Milt Gross, Walter Hoban and Cliff Sterrett.

9.15.1971: Doonesbury introduces Barbara Ann "Boopsie" Boopstein. Cheerleader, actress, model, New Age channeler, she eventually married B.D. In 1992 they had a daughter, whom they named Samantha (Sam).

9.15.1974: A villain named Big Brass makes his first appearance in Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy. Gould’s strip has featured a long list of colorful, often bizarre-looking, evildoers over the years. 

 

9.15.2001: Vanguard releases Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators, by Brian Kane, an illustrated biography of the creator of Prince Valiant.

9.15.2009: The Library of American Comics releases Rip Kirby, Vol. 1: 1946-1948, launching a set that is scheduled to reprint the complete run of Alex Raymond’s strip.
 

Doonesbury

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: June 22, 2026

The New Yorker isn’t Sports Illustrated, of course. But a fair number of sports, from basketball and baseball to golf and hockey, have graced the magazine's covers in one form or another since its founding in 1925.

Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet
"After the Comeback"

And now, a few words from . . . Douglas Adams

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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

"Laundry," 1910, John Singer Sargent 

Movie Posters, 1995: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: September 14

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.

9.14.1891: John H. Striebel, the illustrator of Dixie Dugan (1929-1966), is born in Bertrand, Michigan.

9.14.1902: Sports cartoonist Willard Mullin is born on a farm in Ohio. He created the "Brooklyn Bum," which The New York Times once described as "the quintessence of the Brooklyn Dodger baseball fan." Willard was named 1954 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society.

9.14.1958: Ozark Ike, a strip created by Ruffus Gotto, ends its run. launched in 1945, the strip focused on Ozark Ike McBatt, a youth from a rural area.

9.14.2014: Editorial cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Tony Auth dies. He was 72. He and children's author Daniel Pinkwater created Norb, a comic strip that ran for 52 weeks beginning in 1989. 

Brooklyn Bum

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: June 24, 2013

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.

Richard McGuire
"Uncle Sam Is Listening"