Today in the history of the American comic strip: May 17

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.

5.17.1936: Mickey Finn, which Lank Leonard debuted in April, 1936, as a daily strip, adds a Sunday feature. The Sunday comic survived until 1975; the daily cartoon, until 1976.

5.17.1943: Harry J. Tutkhill revives The Bungle Family, distributing the strip himself instead of relying on a syndicate. The gag-a-day comic ran from 1918 to 1945, except for a brief hiatus in the early 1940s.

5.17.1968: Dogpatch USA, a theme park based on Al Capp’s Li’l Abner, opens in northwest Arkansas. It survived, in one form or another, until 1993.
 

5.17.2004: Fantagraphics Books publishes The Complete Peanuts: 1950-1952, the first in a multi-volume, multi-year set that was not completed until 2016.

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.