Years in comics

Before the 1900s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s
2020 2021 2022 2023
v t e

Events and publications

Publishers Star Publications, Toby Press, and Youthful make their debuts; conversely, Columbia Comics, Novelty Press, and Street & Smith Comics all fold.

Year overall

January

January 22: Peyo's gag comic Poussy is first published in Le Soir.^[1]
Captain America Comics (1941 series) #70 - Timely Comics
Human Torch Comics (1940 series) #34 - Timely Comics
Joker Comics (1942 series) #35 - Timely Comics
Jughead (1949 series) #1 - Archie Comics

February

Lana (1948 series) #4 - Timely Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics (1939 series) #90 - Timely Comics
Sub-Mariner Comics (1941 series) #30 - Timely Comics
Two-Gun Kid (1948 series) #6 - Timely Comics

March

Captain America Comics (1941 series) #71 - Timely Comics
Human Torch Comics (1940 series) #35 - Timely Comics
Joker Comics (1942 series) #36 - Timely Comics
Nipper, by Doug Wright, debuts in the March 12 issue of The Montreal Standard. The weekly comic strip would run until 1980 in magazines distributed across Canada.

April

April 9: The final issue of the Italian Disney comics magazine Topolino is published. It becomes a digest instead.
April 25: First publication of Wally Fawkes' (aka Trog) Flook in The Daily Mail.^[2]
The final episode of the Belgian comic magazine Bimbo is published.^[3]
In Walt Disney’s comics and stories, Rival beachcombers, by Carl Barks; debut of Judge Owl.
Captain America Comics (1941 series) #72 - Timely Comics
Lana (1948 series) #5 - Timely Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics (1939 series) #91 - Timely Comics
Sub-Mariner Comics (1941 series) #31 - Timely Comics
Two-Gun Kid (1948 series) #7 - Timely Comics
Venus (1948 series) #4 - Timely Comics

May

May 22: First publication of Warren Tufts' Casey Ruggles as a Sunday strip. It will become a daily strip on 19 September.^[4]
May 26, Mefisto la spia by Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini; Tex Willer meets his most famous antagonist, Steve Deckart, alias Mefisto. The villain, here, is again a simple illusionist and spy, without the supernatural powers that he will get later.^[5]
The final issue of the Belgian comics magazine Wrill is published.
Joker Comics (1942 series) #37 - Timely Comics

June

Lana (1948 series) #6 - Timely Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics (1939 series) #92. The final issue under this title; with the next issue it changes title and format to Marvel Tales - Timely Comics
Sub-Mariner Comics (1941 series) #32 - Timely Comics - (The series will be cancelled for five years)
Two-Gun Kid (1948 series) #8 - Timely Comics
Venus (1948 series) #5 - Timely Comics
Western Winners, with issue #5, takes over the numbering of All-Western Winners — Atlas Comics

July

July 10: Jules Feiffer's gag comic Clifford, which appeared earlier this year during the spring in Will Eisner's one-shot Kewpies, is now moved to The Spirit comic book magazine as a back cover feature. It will run until 4 March 1951.^[6]
July 21: Montales el desperado by Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio Gallepini; debut of the Mexican revolutionary Montales, a recurring character in the Tex Willer saga.
Captain America Comics (1941 series) #73 - Timely Comics - The series will be renamed to Captain America's Weird Tales
Joker Comics (1942 series) #38 - Timely Comics

August

August 4: Halfway the prepublication of The Adventures of Tintin story Land of Black Gold in Tintin Hergé leaves to take a 12-week resting vacation in Switzerland, because he suffered from clinical depression. The story won't be continued until 27 October.^[7]^[8]
August 13: First publication of Pepo's Condorito.^[9]^[10]
August 17: The first episode of Al Posen's Rhymin' Time is published.^[11]
Best Love debuts with issue #33, taking over the numbering of Sub-Mariner Comics - Timely Comics
Big Shot, with issue #104, is cancelled by Columbia Comics
Girls' Love Stories (1949 series) #1 - DC Comics
Lana (1948 series) #7 - Timely Comics
Marvel Tales debuts with issue #93, taking over the numbering of Marvel Mystery Comics - Timely Comics
Two-Gun Kid (1948 series) #9 - Timely Comics
Venus (1948 series) #6 - Timely Comics

September

September 11: The episode Ten Minutes, in the series The Spirit, is first published. This marks the first story written by Will Eisner's assistant Jules Feiffer, who will continue writing most of the series until 1952.^[6]
Joker Comics (1942 series) #39 - Timely Comics

October

October 16: The first gag of Poustiquet by Bindle is published. It will run over 25 years.^[12]
October 30: Debut of Ellsworth Bheezer, in a Sunday page comic by Manuel Gonzales and Bill Walsh.
Captain America's Weird Tales (1941 series) #74 - Timely Comics
Cowboy Romances (1939 series) #1 - Timely Comics
Alfred Harvey and Vic Herman's Little Dot makes her debut in Little Max Comics # 1.^[13]
The final issue of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Slam Bradley is published.

November

Boy Commandos (1942 series), with issue #36 dated November–December, cancelled by DC Comics.
Little Lana (1948 series) #8 - Timely Comics - (Lana was renamed to Little Lana)
Marvel Tales (1939 series) #94 - Timely Comics
Two-Gun Kid (1948 series), with issue #10, cancelled by Timely Comics. (The title would be revived four years later by Marvel, continuing the numbering.)
Venus (1948 series) #8 - Timely Comics

December

December 3: First publication of Pecos Bill by Guido Martina and Raffaele Paparella.^[14]
December 15: The final issue of the Dutch comics magazine Doe Mee is published.^[15]
Cowboy Romances (1939 series) #2 - Timely Comics
True Western (1939 series) #1 - Timely Comics

Specific date unknown

Maurice Tillieux launches his detective series Félix in Héroïc-Albums, where it will run until 1956. ^[16]
The first episode of Roland Davies' Sparks and Flash is published.^[17]
Lancelot Hogben publishes the book From Cave Painting to Comic Strip. A Kaleidoscope of Human Communication.^[18]
Reverend David S. Piper and Joseph Wirt Tillotson launch the first episode of Our Bible in Pictures. ^[19]

Births

April

John Ostrander, American comic book writer (DC Comics, Valiant Comics).

June

June 11: Steve Moore, British comics writer (Axel Pressbutton, Future Shocks, Tom Strong's Terrific Tales), (d. 2014).

Deaths

February

February 6: Eugène Vavasseur, French illustrator, poster artist and comic artist, dies at age 85.^[20]
February 15: Charles L. Bartholomew, aka Bart, American comics artist (Cousin Bill, George and his Conscience, Bud Smith, the Boy Who Does Stunts, Alexander the Cat, Mama's Girl-Daddy's Boy), dies at age 80.^[21]

March

March 6: Storm P., Danish comics artist, animator, illustrator, painter and comedian (Peter og Ping), dies at age 66.^[22]
March 16: Stanley E. Armstrong, American comics artist (continued Slim Jim And The Force), dies at age 85.^[23]
March 21: Jo Valle, French comics writer (L'Espiègle Lili), dies at age 83.^[24]

April

April 24: Reg Carter, British comics artist (Big Eggo) dies at age 62.^[25]

May

May 12: Neysa McMein, American illustrator, painter and comics artist (Deathless Deer), dies at age 60.^[26]
May 27: Robert Ripley, American comics artist, cartoonist, entrepreneur, and anthropologist (Ripley's Believe It or Not!), dies at age 58 from a heart attack.^[27]

June

10 June: John T. McCutcheon, American political cartoonist and occasional comics artist (Bird Center), dies at age 79.^[28]

July

July 13: Walt Kuhn, American painter, illustrator and comics artist (Whisk), dies at age 71.^[29]

October

October 8: Monte Barrett, American comics writer (Jane Arden), dies at age 52.^[30]

November

November 13: Bern L. Vinger, Dutch illustrator and comics artist (Met Toto Op Reis), dies at age 77.^[31]
November 30: Lester J. Ambrose, American comics artist (Simp Simpson), dies at age 70.^[32]

December

December 3: Frank Miller, American comics artist (Barney Baxter), dies from a heart attack at age 51.^[33]
December 7: Bovil, Swedish painter, illustrator, sculptor and comics artist (Tusen Och en Natt), dies at age 39.
December 8: Frank R. Leet, American comics artist (Al Acres), dies at age 68.^[34]
December 11: Clifford K. Berryman, American cartoonist (Remember the Maine, Drawing the Line in Mississippi), dies at age 80.

Specific date unknown

Jo Valle, French comics writer (L'Espiègle Lili), dies at age 84.
André Vallet, French painter, illustrator and comics artist (L'Espiègle Lili), dies at age 79 or 80.^[35]
Émile Vavasseur, French poster artist, comics artist and illustrator, dies at age 85 or 86.^[36]

First issues by title

Buster Bunny, cover dated November, published by Standard Comics
Girl Comics, cover-dated October, published by Timely Comics
Girls' Love Stories, cover dated August–September, published by DC Comics
Heart Throbs, cover-dated August, published by Quality Comics
Kid Colt Outlaw, cover-dated May, published by Timely Comics
Superboy, cover-dated March/April, published by DC Comics
Torchy, cover-dated November, published by Quality Comics

Initial appearances by character name

Pow Wow Smith in Detective Comics #151 (September), created by Don Cameron and Carmine Infantino - DC Comics
Dr. Edward Clariss - Reverse Flash in Flash Comics #104 (February), created by John Broome and Joe Kubert - DC Comics

Sources

^ "Peyo". Lambiek.net. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
^ "Wally Fawkes". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Guy Depière". lambiek.net. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
^ Casey Ruggles at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 8, 2015.
^ "Mefisto (Steve Dickart)". www.ubcfumetti.com. Archived from the original on 1999-11-11. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
^ ^a ^b "Jules Feiffer". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ Assouline, Pierre (2009) [1996]. Hergé, the Man Who Created Tintin. Charles Ruas (translator). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
^ Peeters, Benoît (1989). Tintin and the World of Hergé. London: Methuen Children's Books. ISBN 978-0-416-14882-4.
^ "Pepo". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ Gravett, Paul, "1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die", Universe, page 145.
^ "Al Posen". lambiek.net. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
^ "Bindle". lambiek.net.
^ "Vic Herman". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ Franco Fossati, I grandi eroi del fumetto, Gramese, 1990, pp. 178–179
^ "Doe Mee". www.lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Maurice Tillieux". lambiek.net. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
^ "Roland Davies". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ Kallen, H. M. (1951). "Reviewed work: From Cave Painting to Comic Strip. A Kaleidoscope of Human Communication, LANCELOT HOGBEN; the Ways of Genius, RADOSLAV A. TSANOFF". Social Research. 18 (1): 122–125. JSTOR 40969261.
^ "Joseph Wirt Tillotson". lambiek.net. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
^ "Eugène Vavasseur". lambiek.net. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
^ "Charles Bartholomew". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Storm P." lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Stanley E. Armstrong". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Jo Valle (1865-1949)". data.bnf.fr. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Reg Carter". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Neysa McMein". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Robert L. Ripley". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "John T. McCutcheon". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Walt Kuhn". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Famous Iowans - Montgomery 'Monte' Barrett | DesMoinesRegister.com". data.desmoinesregister.com. Retrieved May 12, 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Bern L. Vinger". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Lester J. Ambrose". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Frank Miller (I)". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Frank R. Leet".
^ "André Vallet". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
^ "Émile Vavasseur". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 12, 2020.