Today in the history of the American comic strip: February 1

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. 

2.1.1940: Science fiction writer Philip Francis Nowlan, best known as the creator of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D., dies in Philadelphia. He was 51.

2.1.1968: The musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown opens in London. It played at the Fortune Theatre for 116 performances. 

2.1.1970: William Donahey, creator of The Teenie Weenies, dies at 86 in Chicago, Illinois. The strip was about two-inch-tall people living under a rose bush.
 
2.1.1988: Piranha Club debuts under its original title, Ernie. Created by Bud Grace, it is a parody based on Lions Club International. Grace received the National Cartoonists Society’s Newspaper Comic Strip award in 1993.

2.1.2007: Wiley Miller, the creator of Non Sequitur, dismisses as “much ado about nothing” a flap in Malaysia after a newspaper there printed a Non Sequitur cartoon. The comic showed a sidewalk cartoonist offering caricatures of Muhammad “while you wait,” with a caption stating that the cartoonist has finally realized his goal of being the most feared man in the world.
 

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

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.