On this day in 1954 Matt Groening was born! One of Groening’s most popular creations is The Simpsons in which he named the main characters after his own family with one exception. Groening thought naming a character after himself was too obvious so he chose an anagram of the word “brat” and that’s how Bart Simpson came to be!

But, the Simpson's will soon pale as Matt's contribution to popular culture. Matt has just finished his contribution to the next Arf book, Comic Arf. This will surely hereafter be seen as his career highlight. I can’t wait till you see it, Arf Lover!

On this day in 1865 Carl Thomas Anderson was born. Anderson is best known for his bald-headed butt-faced mute comic character, Henry, which was first published as a panel in the Saturday Evening Post.

On this day in 1937 the comic strip Prince Valiant debuted. Prince Valiant was created by Harold Rudolf Foster who was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2006. Foster got his start drawing ladies in their underwear for a mail order catalog. And, along that line, Foster is one of the artists featured in my new book, Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings. For a preview of the book click here.

On this day in 2000, cartoonist Charles M. Schulz sadly died. Schulz was, of course, the creator of the what many consider the greatest comic strip of all time, the Peanuts comic strip. Interestingly, the character of Lucy was inspired by his first wife, Joyce Halverson. But, talk about revealing: look for Schulz’ nude self-portrait in Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings-really!

On this day in 1915 comic illustrator Zeke Zekley was born in Chicago. After being laid off from Disney he was hired as a worthy, long time, assistant to George McManus on the great Bringing Up Father comic strip.

On this day in 1928, comic book artist and science fiction illustrator Frank Frazetta was born. Frazetta’s earliest work ,like the funny animal art below, got the attention of Disney, who he turned down when offered a position. Of, course, he eventually went on to become the premier fantasy artist, but I will always dig his cartoony stuff the most.

On this day in 1961, producer, character designer, and animator Bruce Timm was born. Timm is best recognized for his work on the DC Animated Universe which includes shows such as Batman:The Animated Series, Superman:The Animated Series, and Justice League among many others. Oh, did I mention sizzling risque work is in my latest book Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings? There’s a preview of the book here.

On this day in 1938 the daily comic version of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck appeared in newspapers nation-wide. Last week we remembered Al Taliaferro, the artist who convinced Roy Disney to let Donald have his own comic strip. But Donald Duck’s first appearance ever was in Mickey Mouse Annual, a comic that showed how Mickey’s barnyard friends came to be.

On this day in 1994, prolific comic artist Jack Kirby passed away at the age of 76. He co-created X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and the list goes on. According to some, Kirby produced more than 25,000 pages of work during his career. Check out this cool illustration of characters exploding forth from Kirby’s pen:

On this day in 1920, illustrator and cartoonist George Evans was born. Evans had a passion for WWI aviation. Although he is well known for assisting George Wunder on Terry and the Pirates, Evans’ early work for Crime SuspenseStories as well as Aces High should not be overlooked!