Today in the history of the American comic strip: June 22

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.

6.22.1919: Old Doc Yak, which centered on a talking goat, makes its final appearance as a Sunday strip. The comic launched in 1912.

6.22.1923: Three months after Percy Crosby’s Skippy debuted in Life magazine, the strip about a rambunctious fifth-grader makes its first appearance in newspapers. It was published until 1945.
 

6.22.1956: Kevin Fagan, who created the family strip Drabble in 1979, is born in Inglewood, California. The cartoon remains in syndication.

6.22.1970: Woodstock, the small, yellow, initially nameless bird who first appeared in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts in 1966, finally gets named.
 
6.22.2008: Matt Janz retires Out of the Gene Pool, which premiered in 2001.
 
6.22.2012: In a two-week Doonesbury wedding series, Leo "Toggle" Deluca and Alex Doonesbury exchange vows at Walden. The ceremony is conducted by the Rev. Scot Sloan.

Drabble

 
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.