Today in the history of the American comic strip: October 11

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.

10.11.1903: Gustave Verbeek begins a weekly run of The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo (1903-1905), a strip in which the first half of the story was captioned right-side-up and the second half upside-down.

10.11.1931: Mobster Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice makes his first published appearance in Dick Tracy, when Tracy leads a raid on Big Boy's nightclub and is able to thwart his escape. Dick Tracy launched in 1931 and remains in syndication.

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.