This is a timeline of significant events in comics in the 1920s.
1920
January 4: The first issue of the Flemish Catholic children's magazine Zonneland and its Walloon sister publication Petits Belges are published. Both will feature a lot of children's comics. Petits Belges changes its name into Bonjour in 1957 and Tremplin in 1960.
April 7: The picture story Liška Bystrouška ("Vixen Sharp-Ears"), scripted by Rudolf Těsnohlídek and drawn by Stanislav Lolek, starts serialisation in the Czech newspaper Lidové Noviny, where it will run until 23 June. [6]
August:
In Portugal Rocha Vieira creates Fitas de Juca e Zeca.[7]
Stan Cross' The Potts makes its debut, but as You & Me (it receives its more familiar title, The Potts only in 1951). He will draw it personally until 1939, after which Jim Russell will take it over until his death in 2001, which also means the comic strip's conclusion.
August 15: Harrison Cady's Peter Rabbit makes its debut. He will continue the series until 1948, after which Vincent Fago takes it over.[8]
Harry Folkard creates Billy Bimbo and Peter Porker which is published in The London Evening News.[10] The comic strip will become an even bigger sensation in The Netherlands, where it is published as Jopie Slim and Dikkie Bigmans from 1921 on.[10]
February 14: In Frank King's Gasoline Alley Walt Wallet discovers a baby at his doorstep, who will later be named Skeezix and adopted as his own son.[11]
June: The first issue of the Spanish comics magazine Pulgarcito is published.
November 13: In Jimmy Bancks' Us Fellers the character Ginger Meggs makes his debut. The series will eventually be named after him and become the longest-running Australian comics series of all time.
July 17: In Billy DeBeck's Barney Google Spark Plug the horse makes its debut, leading to an eventual title change as Barney Google and Sparky Plug.[21]
July 23: Harry Julius' The Crazy Crew of the Crayfish debuts. It will run until 22 February 1923.[22]
September 22: The first issue of the British comics magazine The Wizard is published. It will run until 16 November 1963, after which it merges with The Rover.
October 15: Comic artist Monte Crews gets injured in a car accident. Although he survives and recovers, it means the end of his newspaper comic The Mysterious Family Next Door.[18]
October 30: The first episode of George Herriman's Stumble Inn appears in print. The series will run until 1925.[24]
November 6: Joe Cunningham's Rufus McGoofus makes its debut. It will run in papers until about 1928.[25]
November 29: Walter Berndt's Smitty makes its debut. It will run until 1973.
December 8: The first issue of Jungle Jinks magazine is published. It will last a mere two years.[34][35]
The Scottish comics magazine The Vanguard makes its debut. It will run until 1926.
Dutch cartoonist Ton van Tast creates his comic strip De Daverende Dingen Dezer Dagen for the Dutch satirical magazine Paljas. It will run from 1923 until 1948.[36]
The first episode of Lee W. Stanley's The Old Home Town is published, which will run until 1944.[37]
Bjarne Restan's Per og Peik i Sukkerlandet makes its debut.[38]
Oda Nobutsune and Katsuishi Kabashima create The Adventures of Sho-Chan.[39]
The first episode of Der Contibuben, a comic series written by famous German novelist Erich Maria Remarque and drawn by Hermann Schütz is published. The series will run until 1926.[40]
Bjarne Restan's Paal og Pelles Reise makes its debut.[38]
In Russia the artist's collective Kukryniksy is founded, who will make many propaganda posters, some with sequential illustrated narratives, much like comics.[48]
In Italy, the house Imperia, near to the Fascist Party, publishes the first Italian comic album, Le burle di Furbicchio ai maghi (Furbicchio mocks the wizards), by the futurist painter Filiberto Scarpelli, (father of the screenwriter Furio Scarpelli).[49]
1925
January 9: The final episode of Stumble Inn by George Herriman is published.[24]
February 14: The first episode of S. K. Perkins' Spadger's XI is published, which will continue until 1931, when Chick Gordon takes over the series.[50]
February 21: The first issue of the American humor and cartoons magazine The New Yorker is published. On its cover their mascot, Eustace Tilley, designed by Rea Irvin, makes his debut.[51]
February 22: Ruth Vickery's Betty and Bill is first published. It will run until 3 May, after which the series restarts on 28 June and runs until 2 May 1926.[52]
April 4: The final episode of Al Posen's Them Days Is Gone Forever is published.[19]
August 9: Wynne W. Davies published the first episode of Percy the Pommy.[56]
August 30: Ferd Johnson's Texas Slim makes its debut through the Chicago Tribune Syndicate.[57]
November 22: Salvador Bartolozzi launches the first issue of the Spanish children's magazine Pinocho, in which his comics character Pinocho makes its debut. The magazine will run until 1931.[58]
George Hager and his sister Mary Hager Dearborn take over their father's, Dok Hager, Dok's Dippy Duck and retitle and continue it as The Adventures of Waddles.[62]
1926
March
March 1: The first episode of Roland J. Scott's newspaper comic series Sally Sallies is published.[63]
March 21: The final episode of Wynne W. Davies' Percy the Pommy appears in print.[56]
April
April: The first issue of the Italian children's and comics magazine Giornale dei Ragazzi is published. It will run until November 1943. .[64] Featuring a dutiful observance of the moral dictates of Fascism, the magazine consisted mostly of columns on various topics, and introduced the comics (of strict Italian production, in compliance with the directives of the MinCulPop) only from the 8th number in last year of publication.[64]
April 19: Al Posen's series Jinglet debuts. It will run, with an interruption between 1950 and 1953, until 1960.[19]
May
May 1: The final episode of Fernand Wicheler's newspaper comic Le Dernier Film appears in print. [65]
May 2: The final episode of Ruth Vickery's Betty and Bill is published.[66]
May 9: Norman McMurray's Fish and Chips debuts. It will run until 26 June 1927.[67]
May 16: The first episode of Billy DeBeck's Parlor, Bedroom and Sink is published, which would change its name to Bunky later on.[21]
August: Harry Julius launches his comic strip Mr. Gunk - He Didn't Think!.[22]
December
December: The final episode of Der Contibuben, a comic series written by famous German writer Erich Maria Remarque and drawn by Hermann Schütz, is published.[40]
Jack Lait and Louis Biedermann publish the children's book All The Funny Folks, in which comics characters from different series have a cross-over.[73]
April 21: The first issue of the Chinese comics magazine Shanghai Manhua is published and will run until 7 June 1930.[86]
May 2: In Frank King's Gasoline Alley Walt and Phyllis Blossom have a natural-born son, Corky. Many readers sent in angry letters because it implies that the couple must have had sexual intercourse. Walt's first child, Skeezix, was found at his doorstep and thus avoided controversy.[11]
November 1: The first issue of the Belgian comics magazine Le Petit Vingtième is published, with Hergé as both its chief editor and main illustrator and comics artist. In its first issue the comic Flup, Nénesse, Poussette et Cochonnet is published, which will run until 7 March 1929.[68]
December 10: Harold C. Earnshaw creates the newspaper comic strip The Pater. It will run until 28 February 1931.[91]
Kitazawa Rakuten creates Tonda Haneko Jō (とんだはね子嬢,, "Miss Haneko Tonda"), the first manga starring a female protagonist.
In Italy, Le avventure aviatorie di un balillino (The airplane adventures of a little Balilla), published by Giuseppe Nerbini, written by his son Mario and drawn by Carlo Cossio, second Italian comic album.[92]
January 16: Dell Comics publishes the American comics magazine The Funnies #1, which is the first American newsstand comic book of all-original material. It lacked covers, and was in that way more like a newspaper insert, but was sold independently.
October 26: In E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre the Sea Hag makes her debut. Her name will only be revealed 17 days later but she will quickly emerge as Popeye's major antagonist.[100]
January 13: Guy Mouminoux, AKA Dimitri, Dimitri Lahache, Guy Sajer, French writer, comic writer (wrote scripts for Jean Valhardi) and artist (Goutatou et Dorochaux, Le Chevalier au Blason d'Argent, Les Familleurreux, Prémolaire, Krampon, Les Aventures de Rififi, Le Goulag, continued Blason d'Argent), (d. 2022).[129]
September 8: Manuel Gustavo Bordalo Pinheiro, Portuguese illustrator and comic artist, dies at age 53.[141]
November 5: Henri de Sta, French illustrator and cartoonist (Toby le Giraffe), dies at age 74.[142]
December 11: F. H. Townsend, British illustrator, cartoonist and comics artist, dies at age 52.[143]
Specific date unknown: Fernando Xumetra Ragull, aka F. Xumetra, Spanish illustrator, painter, decorator and comics artist (made early picture stories, aka comics), dies at age 60.[144]
1921
May 13: Arpad Schmidhammer, German caricaturist, book illustrator and comics artist (Totentanz der Politik), dies at age 64.[145]
Specific date unknown: August von Meissl, Austrian illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 43 or 44.[146]
1922
February 13: Jehan Testevuide, French painter, comic artist and photographer (Trop Bien Déguisés), dies at age 48.[147]
1923
March 27: Kate J. Fricero, French illustrator and comics artist (Les Distractions de Mlle Nini), dies at age 45.[148]
May 29: Adolf Oberländer, German caricaturist, cartoonist, comics artist and illustrator, dies at age 77.[149]
June: Syd B. Griffin, American comics artist (Mister Bings and the Twentieth Century, continued Little Umjiji), dies at age 58.[150]
November 24: Myer Marcus, aka Billy Liverpool, American comics artist (Percy Vere, Doubting Thomas, Big Scalper), dies at age 55.[151]
Specific date unknown: James Brian Fitzmaurice, Canadian comics artist, dies at age 48 or 49.[158]
1925
March 19: Firmin Bouisset, French illustrator, lithographer, poster designer and comics artist, dies at age 65.[159]
July 7: Lothar Meggendorfer, German illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 77.[160]
September 13: Margaret G. Hays, American children's book writer, comics writer (wrote comics for her sister Grace Drayton) and artist (Jennie and Jack, Also The Little Dog Jap), dies at age 51.[161]
October 5: Fritz Gareis jr., Austrian caricaturist and comics artist (Bilderbogen des kleinen Lebens), dies at age 62.[162]
October 6: Tim Early, American comic artist (The Geevum Girls, Samson and Delila), dies at age 36 from heart disease.[163]
November 17: J. Campbell Cory, American political cartoonist, illustrator and comics artist (Funny Side of Life in Montana, Lariat Pete, Cory's Kids, ghosted The Katzenjammer Kids), dies at age 58.[164]
1926
23 January: Teodoro Gascón Baquero, Spanish pharmacist and comics artist, dies at age 75.[165]
May 24: Clarence Rigby, American comics artist (Toyland, The Wooden Babes, Bruno and Pietro, Little Ah Sid, Inquisitive Clarence, Adventures of a Pair of Jacks, Professor Blackart), dies at age 60.[167]
June 3: Diógenes Taborda, Argentine comics artist, dies at age 35 or 36.[168]
August 7: T. S. Sullivant, American illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 71.[169]
October 11: Albert Robida, French comics artist, illustrator, caricaturist, novelist and journalist (Le Vingtième Siècle, La Guerre au vingtième siècle and Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique), dies at age 78.[170]
November 16: Karel Klíč, Czech illustrator, painter, photo engraver, lithographer and comics artist (Die Friedensverhandlungen), dies at age 85.[171]
December 1: Draner, Belgian caricaturist, comics artist and costume designer (made text comics for Le Charivari), dies at age 93.[172]
Specific date unknown:
S.W. Cavenagh, British comic artist (Mr. Bodger), dies at age 70. [173]
Teodoro Gascón Baquero, Spanish illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 75 or 76.[174]
1927
March 11: Edouard Pépin, French caricaturist, illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 85.[175]
August 21: Livingston Hopkins, American-Australian cartoonist and comics artist (Professor Tigwissel's Burglar Alarm), dies at age 81.[176]
December 3: Joseph A. Lemon (Willy Cute, Professor Bughouse), dies at age 57.[177]
1928
January 12: Rudolf Těsnohlídek, Czech poet, novelist and comic writer (Liška Bystrouška, A.K.A. Vixen Sharp-Ears), commits suicide at age 45. [6]
June 22: Arthur Burdett Frost, American illustrator, painter, graphic artist and comics writer and artist (Our Cat Eats Rat Poison, aka Fatal Mistake), dies at age 77.[178]
August 15: Joaquín Moya Ángeles, aka Moya, Spanish caricaturist, illustrator and comics artist, dies at an unknown age.[179]
October 8: Larry Semon, American comedian and comics artist (Billiken, Larry, Mr. Wood B. Sport), dies at age 39 from TBC.[180]
October 10: Ed Carey, American comics artist (Brainy Bowers and Drowsy Duggan, Simon Simple, Professor Hypnotiser), dies at age 66 or 67 from a cerebral hemorrhage.[181]
1929
January 18: Charles Jay Taylor, American comics artist (Mr. Firstlove), dies at age 83.[182]
April 14: Albert Levering, American illustrator and comic artist (Artful Arty and Alex Smart, made sequential stories for Puck), dies at age 59 or 60. [183]
July 11: Willem van der Nat, Dutch illustrator, sculptor and comics artist, dies at age 54.[185]
August 9: Heinrich Zille, German illustrator, caricaturist, photographer, cartoonist and comics artist (Vadding), dies at age 71.[186]
October 17: W.L. Wells, American comics artist (Old Nicodemus Nimble, continued Old Opie Dilldock's Stories), dies at age 81.[187]
November 18: Victor Schramm, Romanian comics artist (Karl and Fritz), dies at age 64.[188]
December 8: Georges Delaw, French painter, illustrator and comics artist (Les Mille et un Tours de Placide Serprolet), dies at age 67.[189]
References
^Phelps, Donald (May 1, 2001). Reading the Funnies. Fantagraphics Books. p. 46. ISBN9781560973683. Retrieved August 17, 2017 – via Internet Archive. Castor Oyl popeye.
^Phelps, Donald (May 1, 2001). Reading the Funnies. Fantagraphics Books. p. 46. ISBN9781560973683. Retrieved August 17, 2017 – via Internet Archive. Harold Hamgravy.
^"1924 'Little Orphan Annie' comic strip". The page says only that this is from 1924, but a small "9-27" appears in the fourth panel. Note that "Daddy", as well as his given name "Oliver", both appear in these strips.
