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.
3.8.1886: Russ Westover, the creator of Tillie the Toiler (1921-1959), is born in Los Angeles, California. His strip inspired two movies of the same name, in 1927 and 1941.
3.8.1913: Bob Barnes is born in Portland, Oregon. In 1956 he introduced The Better Half, a strip about a married couple. It ran for close to 60 years.
3.8.1922: Jack Rickard is born. An advertising illustrator and contributor to Mad magazine, he collaborated with Mel Lazarus in 1966 and 1967 on Pauline McPeril, a newspaper strip starring a blonde secret agent.
3.8.1981: Stan Lynde’s Rick O’Shay, a Western comic, ends its run after 23 years. Lynde worked on it until 1977, when he left the syndicate that owned the strip. Others kept the cartoon going for another four years.
3.8.1999: Agnes, a cartoon by Tony Cochran, debuts. The comic chronicles the adventures of a young girl living in an Ohio trailer park with her grandmother.
3.8.1913: Bob Barnes is born in Portland, Oregon. In 1956 he introduced The Better Half, a strip about a married couple. It ran for close to 60 years.
3.8.1922: Jack Rickard is born. An advertising illustrator and contributor to Mad magazine, he collaborated with Mel Lazarus in 1966 and 1967 on Pauline McPeril, a newspaper strip starring a blonde secret agent.
3.8.1981: Stan Lynde’s Rick O’Shay, a Western comic, ends its run after 23 years. Lynde worked on it until 1977, when he left the syndicate that owned the strip. Others kept the cartoon going for another four years.
3.8.1999: Agnes, a cartoon by Tony Cochran, debuts. The comic chronicles the adventures of a young girl living in an Ohio trailer park with her grandmother.
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| Agnes |
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.
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