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

 

6.17.1877: Illustrator and cartoonist Harrison Cady is born in Gardner, Mass. He introduced the Peter Rabbit strip in 1920, and went on to write and draw the comic for 28 years.

6.17.1919: Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, originally called Take Barney Google, F’rinstance, makes its debut. Over the years, Barney Google has virtually disappeared from the strip.

6.17.1935. Oaky Doaks debuts with a daily strip. A Sunday feature followed later. Drawn by Ralph Fuller and scripted by William McCleery, the medieval comic focused on the misadventures of a farm boy with knightly pretensions. 

6.17.1940: The Shadow, which first appeared in other media, makes its way onto the comics pages in a strip written by Walter B. Gibson and drawn by Vernon Greene.

6.17.1946: From 9 To 5 joins the ranks of newspaper strips. Created by Jo Fischer, it dealt with the lives of secretaries, in and out of the office.
 

6.17.1957: J. R. Williams, the creator of Out Our Way, dies at 69 in Pasedena, California. The strip ran from 1922 to 1977.

6.17.2019: Billy DeBeck's Barney Google and Snuffy Smith celebrates its 100th birthday.
 

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

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.