Today in the history of the American comic strip: May 14

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.

5.14.1924: Brad Anderson, the creator of Marmaduke, a strip about a Great Dane, is born in Jamestown, New York. He launched the strip in 1954.

5.14.1944: Dick Tracy villain Flattop Jones Sr., commonly known simply as Flattop because of his flat head, drowns while trying to flee Tracy.

5.14.1961: Arnold Roth retires Poor Arnold’s Almanac after a two-year run as a Sunday feature. He relaunched it in 1989 as a Sunday and daily comic, canceling it for the second and last time in 1990.
 

5.14.1970: Norm Feuti, the creator of Retail and Gil, is born in Pascoag, Rhode Island. Retail debuted in 2006; Gil, in 2012.

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.