Today in the history of the American comic strip: July 10

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.

7.10.1896: William Conselman, the co-creator of Ella Cinders (1925-1961), is born in Brooklyn, New York.

7.10.1914: Joe Shuster, who, with Jerry Siegel, co-created Superman as a comic book hero, is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Superman later appeared in a newspaper comic strip as well.

7.10.1917: Reg Smythe, the creator of Andy Capp, is born in Hartlepool, England. The National Cartoonists Society honored  Smythe with a Newspaper Comic Strip award in 1974.

7.10.1942: Jeff Millar, co-creator of Tank McNamara, is born in Pasadena, Texas. He launched the strip in 1974.

7.10.1951: Dudley Fisher dies in Rockport, Massachusetts, at 61. Right Around Home, which he launched as a Sunday strip in 1937, ran until 1964, with name changes along the way. A daily version titled Myrtle began in 1942. 

7.10.1972: Jack Moore introduces Kelly (later changed to Kelly & Duke), a comic about a boy named Kelly; his anthropomorphic dog Duke; and Roscoe, a beatnik cat. It ran until 1980.

7.10.2005: Characters from several comic strips begin appearing in Blondie, and continue to do so for some time, to celebrate the strip’s 75th anniversary.

7.10.2016: Mel Lazarus' Momma ends its 45-year run. Sonya Hobbs, the widowed, opinionated momma of the title, had three grown children.

7.10.2007: Doug Marlette, the creator of Kudzu (1981-2007), dies in a traffic accident in Marshall County, Mississippi. He was 57 years old.

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.