Today in the history of the American comic strip: November 17

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.

11.17.1904: Faith Burrows, a nationally syndicated cartoonist during the Jazz Age, is born.
 
11.17.1929: Johnny Gruelle unveils Brutus, an increasingly offbeat strip starring Brutus Dudd; his wife, Cleo; their dog, Julius Caesar; and their cat, Marc Antony. It ran until 1938.

11.17.1971: The blond and curvaceous Miss Buxley makes her first appearance in Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey, joining the staff of General Amos Halftrack as a secretary.

11.17.2006: Fantagraphics Books releases the first volume in a set reprinting the complete run of E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre (dailies and color Sundays) featuring Popeye.

 

11.17.2020: The Sunday Press publishing company releases Gross Exaggerations, a collection of the major comic strips of Milt Gross (1895-1953), who has been described as the king of screwball comics.
 

Brutus

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.