Today in the history of the American comic strip: January 11

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.

1.11.1900: Hal Rasmusson, the cartoonist behind Aggie Mack, is born in Crookston, Minnesota. His teen strip, which starred a blonde girl named Aggie Mack, launched in 1946 and ran until the early 1970s. 

1.11.1958: Frank Willard, the creator of Moon Mullins, dies at 64. After his death, Ferd Johnson continued the strip until its demise in 1991. It focused on a group of lowlifes living in a boardinghouse.

1.11.1959:  Charles M. Schulz of Peanuts fame retires It’s Only a Game, a sports-and-game-oriented comic that ran four times a week for 14 months. Fellow cartoonist Jim Sasseville worked with Schulz on the strip.

 

1.11.2022: The Paramount Plus streaming service announces that an animated TV series based on Lincoln Peirce’s long-running comic strip Big Nate will debut on Feb. 17, 2022.

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.