Today in the history of the American comic strip: August 13

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.

8.13.1928: Tim Tyler’s Luck is launched by Lyman Young, the older brother of Blondie creator Chic Young. It ran until 1996.

8.13.1934: Al Capp’s Li’l Abner debuts. The satirical strip — the first newspaper comic set in the South — ran until 1977, two years before Capp died.

8.13.1958:  Jack Cole, creator of the short-lived Betsy and Me, dies in Crystal Lake, Illinois, having committed suicide at 43. 

8.13.1975: Snoopy’s older brother Spike, who lives in the desert, makes his first appearance in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. Snoopy has at least five siblings: brothers Spike, Marbles, Olaf and Andy; and sister Belle.

 
8.13.2013: Superman: Silver Age Dailies Vol. 1: 1959-1961 begins a Library of American Comics series reprinting all of the Man of Steel’s newspaper strips.

 

Li'l Abner

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.