Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 22

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.

4.22.1970: Pogo Possum, the title character in Walt Kelly’s Pogo, says “We have met the enemy and he is us” in a poster Kelly drew to help promote the first annual Earth Day. 

 

4.22.1971: Muckraking newspaper columnist Jack Anderson publishes a column accusing Li’l Abner creator Al Capp of sexual misconduct in 1968 involving several female students at the University of Alabama. Capp had not been charged in 1968, and he denies the allegations when they surface in 1971.
 
4.22.1986: Dick Moores, who worked on Gasoline Alley for nearly three decades, dies. He was 76. Moores began as an assistant to creator Frank King, and later took control of the strip.

4.22.1990: The Buckets debuts, Created by Scott Stantis, the comic focuses on a suburban family, including a pooch named Dogzilla.

4.22.2024: The New York Times reports that Blondie, Dagwood's wife in the Blondie comic strip long dominated by Dagwood, is getting a more prominent role in the comic.

 

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.