Today in the history of the American comic strip: July 30

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.

7.30.1933: Roy Crane’s Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune goes into syndication. The cartoon, which remained in print for more than five decades, was an adventure strip.

7.30.1945: Sweatin’ It Out, the cartoon featuring Bill Mauldin’s infantrymen, changes its name once again, this time to Willie and Joe, the names of the feature’s stars. The comic ran until 1948.
 
7.30.1955: Frank V. Martinek scuttles Don Winslow of the Navy, ending its 21-year run.

7.30.1992: Joe Shuster, the co-creator of Superman, dies in Los Angeles, California. He was 78. Superman began his life in comic books in 1938, a year before the newspaper strip materialized.

7.30.2008: The Library of American Comics releases Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles, a 392-page volume that includes every Scorchy Smith strip, a biography of Sickles and a look at his career as a magazine illustrator.

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.