Today in the history of the American comic strip: August 8

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.

8.8.1954: Jungle Jim finally expires after a 20-year run. King Features Syndicate cooked up the strip, which was illustrated by Alex Raymond and written by Don Moore, to compete with Hal Foster's Tarzan.

8.8.1958: J. P. McEvoy, who wrote Dixie Dugan, dies. He had teamed up with illustrator John H. Striebel to produce the strip, which ran from 1929 to 1966.

 

8.8.1988: In Gasoline Alley, Ada Clock joins the strip's fourth generation of characters when she is born to Adam Wallet and Teeka Tok Wallet, who later adopted a girl named Amanda Lynn.

 

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.