Today in the history of the American comic strip: March 13

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.

3.13.1892: Ethel Hays is born in Billings, Montana. She specialized in flapper-themed comic strips, and later became an accomplished illustrator of children’s books.

3.13.1909: George Sixta, the creator of Rivets, is born in Chicago. His strip about a wire-haired terrier ran from 1953 to 1985.

 

3.13.1921: Al Jaffee is born in Savannah, Georgia. Jaffee is best known for creating the Mad magazine Fold-in, but  from 1957 to 1963 he drew the vertical newspaper comic panel Tall Tales.

3.13.1977: Conchy, a strip created by James Childress, is discontinued after seven years in print. It focused on a bunch of beachcombers stuck on a desert island. 

3.13.1994: The Tom and Jerry comic strip, inspired by the animated cartoons about Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse, is canceled after more than four decades in print.

3.13.1999: Lee Falk dies in New York City, at 87. He created Mandrake the Magician (1934-2013) and The Phantom (1936-present).

3.13.2015: Irwin Hasen, co-creator (with Gus Edson) of Dondi, dies in New York City. He was 96. Their strip about a war orphan ran from 1955 to 1986.

The Phantom

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.