Today in the history of the American comic strip: June 13

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.

6.13.1942: The Shadow, written by Walter B. Gibson and drawn by Vernon Greene, is discontinued only two years after the comic strip debuted. 

6.13.1943: Betty, a glamor-girl strip that Charles A. Voight launched in 1920, draws to a close.

6.13.1998: Reginald Smythe, the British creator of Andy Capp, dies in Hartlepool, England at 80. He introduced the strip in 1957.

6.13.2010: The revived Little Orphan Annie, which Leonard Starr resurrected in 1979 and retitled Annie, ends its run.

Andy Capp

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.