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

2.11.1970: Lee Wright Stanley dies in Cleveland, Ohio, at 84. In 1923, he introduced The Old Home Town, featuring small-town and hillbilly-type characters. It ran until 1966.

 

2.11.1972: Al Capp, the creator of Li’l Abner, pleads guilty to attempted adultery in Eau Clair, Wisconsin. He did so in a plea deal that dropped sodomy and indecent exposure charges stemming from a sexual encounter Capp had with a female college student on April 1, 1971.

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.