Today in the history of the American comic strip: November 1

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.

11.1.1903: Jimmy Swinnerton’s Mr. Jack gets his own Sunday strip, after first appearing in another comic. Swinnerton added a daily strip featuring the playboy tiger in 1912.

11.1.1919: Ted Shearer is born in May Pen, Jamaica. His strip, Quincy, (1970-1986) was one of the first mainstream comics to star an African-American in the lead role.

11.1.1940: A movie based on Al Capp’s Li’l Abner, and bearing the same name, is released.

11.1.1943: Roy Crane launches Buz Sawyer, an adventure strip, which ran until 1989. Crane was one of the innovators of the adventure comic.

11.1.1948: Bugs Bunny, which began as a Sunday strip in 1943, adds a daily page.
 

11.1.2005: John Canemaker releases Winsor McCay: His Life and Art, a biography of the creator of Little Nemo in Slumberland.

11.1.2019: Caulfield, a precocious eight-year-old boy who is a major character in Jef Mallett’s strip Frazz, abandons his annual tradition of donning a clever literature-themed Halloween costume. Instead, he adopts a documentary theme by dressing up as rock climber Alex Honnold, who was profiled in the 2018 film Free Solo.

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.