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

3.5.1908: Bob Dunn is born. In addition to his own strips, he worked on Jimmy Hatlo’s Little Iodine and They’ll do It Every Time. He was named 1975 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society.
 
3.5.1934: Frank V. Martinek debuts Don Winslow of the Navy, showcasing the adventures of a young naval officer. A Sunday page premiered the following year.

3.5.1974: Roland Burton Hedley III makes his first appearance in Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury, which went into syndication in 1970.

3.5.2018: Soup to Nutz, a strip about a working-class family that launched in 2000, goes into reprints. It was canceled two months later.

 

Doonesbury

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.