Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 19

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.

4.19.1970: Russell Myers’ Broom Hilda, a strip about a cigar-loving 1,500-year-old witch, debuts. The National Cartoonists Society honored Myers with its Newspaper Comic Strip award in 1975.

4.19.1989: Mike Doonesbury, assigned by the ad agency he works for to create a new mascot for the tobacco industry, has a disturbing dream starring Mr. Butts.
 

4.19.1999: Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks makes its national premiere. The strip examined the world through the eyes of a young African-American radical named Huey Freeman.

4.19.2004: When his Humvee is hit by an RPG in Iraq, Doonesbury character B.D. loses a leg and begins a long journey of recovery.

4.19.2011: The Library of American Comics launches a series reprinting Secret Agent X-9 strips from the 1930s, as well as more recent strips from the retitled X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan.
 

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.