Today in the history of the American comic strip: August 6

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.

8.6.1985: Ken Ernst dies while visiting his son in Salem, Oregon. In 1942, he took over as the artist on Mary Worth and illustrated that strip until his death.
 
8.6.1989: Berkeley Breathed discontinues Bloom County after nine years in print, although he revived it in 2015 as an online strip.

8.6.2013: Stan Lynde, the creator of Rick O’Shay and Latigo, two successful Western strips, dies in Helena, Montana, at 81.

Bloom County

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.