Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 20

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.

4.20.1942: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby debuts. Johnson is best known for his children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon.

4.20.1968: Rudolph Dirks, creator of The Katzenjammer Kids (later known as The Captain and the Kids) dies in New York City, at 91.

4.20.1995: Farley, the beloved 14-year-old Old English Sheepdog in For Better or For Worse, dies after saving April, a young girl, from drowning.

4.20.2010: The Library of American Comics releases the first volume in its set of Li’l Abner reprints.

4.20.2012: Jan Eliot's Stone Soup takes a shot at former Vice President Dick Cheney a month after his heart transplant. When one character describes politicians as “backroom dudes who profit from our ignorance and complacency,” her sister replies: “Which reminds me … how’s Cheney’s new heart?”

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.