Today in the history of the American comic strip: January 5

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.

1.5.1909: Al Fagaly is born in Waynesburg, Kentucky. He and Harry Shorten created Bitter Laff (later known as There Oughta Be a Law!) in 1945. It ran until 1985.

1.5.1916: George Herriman's Baron Bean debuts, even as Herriman continues to draw Krazy Kat, which launched in 1913. Baron Bean ran until early 1919.

1.5.1929: Russ Manning, who drew the Tarzan strip from 1967 to 1972 and stayed on the Sunday page until 1979, is born in Van Nuys, California. 

1.5.1957: Clarence Gray, co-creator (with William Ritt) of the science fiction strip Brick Bradford, dies at 55.

1.5.2004: Spot the Frog debuts. Created by Mark Heath, it dealt with a talking frog (Spot) that moved in with a man named Karl. The strip ran until 2008.
 
1.5.2020: Ask Shagg, which Peter Guren launched in 1980, is cancelled. The strip starred Shagg E. Dawg, who answered readers’ questions about the animal kingdom.

Brick Bradford

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.