Today in the history of the American comic strip: May 26

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.

5.26.1947: Bob Schoenke debuts Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, a strip based on the radio adventure series that originated in 1933.
 

5.26.1958: Jack Cole unveils Betsy and Me, a strip about a dysfunctional American family. It ran for less than a year.

5.26.2001: Mark O’Hare discontinues Citizen Dog, which debuted in 1995. The strip focused on the antics of a human, Mel, and his canine companion, Fergus.

5.26.2009: The National Cartoonists Society announces that Mark Tatulli has won the Newspaper Comic Strip award, for Lio. The pantomime comic launched in 2006.

5.26.2012: The National Cartoonists Society announces that Glenn McCoy has won the Newspaper Comic Strip award, for The Duplex.

5.26.2012: Jim Unger, the creator of Herman, dies in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada, at 75. Unger's strip ran from 1975 to 1992.

5.26.2014: The National Cartoonists Society gives Isabella Bannerman the Newspaper Comic Strip award, for her contribution to the collaborative strip Six Chix.
 

Six Chix

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.