Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 24

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.

4.24.1899: Allen Saunders, who wrote Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, Mary Worth, and Kerry Drake, is born in Lebanon, Indiana.

4.24.1912: George Wunder, who drew Terry and the Pirates for more than two decades, is born in New York City.

4.24.1930: Howie Schneider is born in New York City. He created Eek & Meek, which ran from 1965 to 2000. 

4.24.1939: George Clark unveils The Neighbors, a gag-a-day comic. A Sunday feature bearing a different title was dropped in 1948, but the daily cartoon survived until 1976.

4.24.2013: Gasoline Alley’s Walt Wallet visits the “Comics Retirement Home” in the first of several strips that show him palling around with characters from defunct comics.

 

Gasoline Alley

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.