Today in the history of the American comic strip: September 14

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.

9.14.1891: John H. Striebel, the illustrator of Dixie Dugan (1929-1966), is born in Bertrand, Michigan.

9.14.1902: Sports cartoonist Willard Mullin is born on a farm in Ohio. He created the "Brooklyn Bum," which The New York Times once described as "the quintessence of the Brooklyn Dodger baseball fan." Willard was named 1954 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society.

9.14.1958: Ozark Ike, a strip created by Ruffus Gotto, ends its run. launched in 1945, the strip focused on Ozark Ike McBatt, a youth from a rural area.

9.14.2014: Editorial cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Tony Auth dies. He was 72. He and children's author Daniel Pinkwater created Norb, a comic strip that ran for 52 weeks beginning in 1989. 

Brooklyn Bum

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.