Today in the history of the American comic strip: October 25

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.

10.25.1943: Already well-established in comic books, Batman and Robin debut in a newspaper strip named, appropriately enough, Batman and Robin. It didn't last long.

10.25.1999: Taylor Trade Publishing releases Pickles, the first collection of strips from Brian Crane’s comic strip of the same name. In 2001, the National Cartoonists Society honored Crane with its Newspaper Comic Strip award.

10.25.2002: Harry N. Abrams releases The Comics: Since 1945, by Brian Walker, a cartoonist and the son of famed cartoonist Mort Walker. 
 

Batman and Robin

 

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.