Today in the history of the American comic strip: September 24

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.

9.24.1900: Joe Palooka creator Ham Fisher is born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Although some sources list the year of his birth as 1901.)

9.24.1900: After a nine-year hiatus, The Teenie Weenies begins the second of its three runs which, in combination, spanned more than 50 years. Created by William Donahey, the comic starred two-inch-tall humans who lived under a rose bush.

9.24.1950: Jan Eliot, the creator of Stone Soup, is born in San Jose, California. The daily strip was syndicated in 1995, but the comic became Sundays-only in 2015. Eliot retired the strip in 2020.

9.24.1991: Theodor Geisel dies in La Jolla, California, at 87. Before he became famous as Dr. Seuss, he produced a comic strip in 1935 called Hejji, which lasted a mere three months.

9.24.2008: Don Wilder dies, at 74. Wilder wrote the syndicated comic strip, Crock, in partnership with artist Bill Rechin. The duo also created Out of Bounds, a look at professional sports.
 

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.