Today in the history of the American comic strip: March 26

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.

3.26.1973: Rerun Van Pelt, the little brother of Lucy Van Pelt, makes his first appearance in Peanuts. Rerun was first mentioned in the strip in May 1972, but he remained offstage until today.

3.26.1995: Six years after he introduced the comic, Berkeley Breathed discontinues Outland. The strip was a Sundays-only spin-off of Bloom County.

3.26.2006: Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks, which launched in 1996, goes on a "hiatus" from which it never returned. The cartoon viewed American life through the eyes of young, black Huey Freeman.

3.26.2012: Sylvia Hollander announces the “retirement” of her strip, Sylvia, which first appeared as a daily newspaper comic in 1981.

3.26.2018: Will Henry’s Wallace the Brave makes its newspaper debut, following its initial launch as an online strip.

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.