Today in the history of the American comic strip: May 28

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.

5.28.1892: Merrill Blosser is born in Nappanee, Indiana. He created the long-running Freckles and his Friends in 1915. It ran until 1971.

5.28.1905: The Terrors of the Tiny Tads, a strip by Gustave Verbeek, makes its debut. The comic focused on four boys who encounter strange creatures that are based on word combinations, such as a hippoautomobile. The cartoon remained in print until 1914.

5.28.1939: Three years after its launch as a daily strip, Lee Falk's The Phantom adds a Sunday strip. The comic about a mysterious crime fighter remains in syndication.

5.28.1947: Lyn Ridgway (aka, Lynn Johnston), the creator of For Better or For Worse, is born in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. She was named 1985 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the (American) National Cartoonists Society.

5.28.1967: King Features begins distributing Captain Kate, a strip by Jerry and Halle Skelly about an 18th-century trading ship captain named Kate Stevens.
 

5.28.2000: Bringing Up Father, the highly popular George McManus strip that went into syndication in 1913, ends its 87-year run.

5.28.2011: The National Cartoonists Society announces that Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley have won the annual Newspaper Comic Strip award, for Dustin.

5.28.2016: The National Cartoonists Society gives Terri Libenson the Newspaper Comic Strip award, for The Pajama Diaries.

5.28.2018: Rick Stromoski’s Soup to Nutz, which debuted in 2000, draws to a close.

The Pajama Diaries

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.