Today in the history of the American comic strip: January 24

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.

1.24.1910: Noel Sickles is born in Chillicothe, Ohio. After initially illustrating the adventure strip Scorchy Smith as a ghost artist, Sickles signed his name to the comic following the 1934 death of creator John Terry, but Sickles moved on about two years later.

1.24.1930: Comic book artist John Romita Sr. is born in New York City. He and Stan Lee launched The Amazing Spider-Man as a newspaper strip in 1977, years after the character debuted in comic books. The newspaper strip ran for four decades.

1.24.1943: Milton Caniff, of Terry and the Pirates fame, launches Male Call to boost the morale of U.S. troops during World War Two, and for a short time thereafter. The strip ran in military newspapers until March 3, 1946.

1.24.1953: British cartoonist Steve McGarry is born in England. Starting in 2003, he collaborated with American Rick Stromoski to create Mullets, a strip that only survived until 2005.

1.24.1981: Last seen before an Iranian firing squad on September 7, 1979, Doonesbury’s Uncle Duke is released.

 

1.24.1989: Snoopy's brother Olaf makes his Peanuts debut. Snoopy has at least five siblings: brothers Spike, Marbles, Olaf and Andy; and sister Belle.

Male Call

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.