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

6.14.1914: The Teenie Weenies begins the first of its three runs, which, in combination, spanned more than 50 years. Created by William Donahey, the comic starred two-inch-tall humans who lived under a rose bush.
 

6.14.1959: Frank O’Neal adds a Sunday Short Ribs feature to the daily strip, which debuted in 1958. He turned the comic over to an assistant in 1973.

6.14.1964: Akwas, Mike Roy’s Sunday-only adventure strip set in North America before Christopher Columbus set sail, makes its first appearance. It ran until 1965, but remained in syndication until 1972.

6.14.1993: Alley Oop creator V. T. Hamlin dies in Brooksville, Florida. He was 93. Introduced in 1932, Hamlin’s strip about a man transported from the Stone Age to the 20th century remains in print.

6.14.2014: Launched in 2006, On a Claire Day ends its newspaper run. The strip about an insecure and naive young woman was created by Henry Beckett and Carla Ventresca.

6.14.2020: Jan Eliot’s Stone Soup suggests that the cartoonist may be planning to retire the strip, which went into daily syndication in 1995.  

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.