F.B. Opper’s punishingly polite duo “Alphonse and Gaston” first appeared on September 22, 1901, in Hearst’s NY Journal.

Slice-of-Life Sunday:

“Our New Age,” a scientific fact-based comic strip created and written by Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus (and drawn by various artists over the years), first appeared on September 21, 1958. A few examples and an excerpt from Smithsonian magazine:

Who’s up for a little midcentury COMEDY GOLD?

An LA-area subscriber sent visual evidence that he received his copy of Hogan’s Alley #24 today! Hopefully you’ve received yours as well, but if you haven’t, rest assured that it’s on its way! (I haven’t received the test copy I send to myself, and I’m right down the road…go figure.)

Sluggo Saturday (“Nancy” strips from September 4-9, 1944):

Martin Branner's "Winnie Winkle The Breadwinner"--one of the first comic strips to star a woman in the labor force and whose success helped opened the door for many other such strips—first appeared on September 20, 1920. Here’s the first run of dailies:

A preview of Sluggo Saturday, and a reminder that in many ways we are all captives in cages of our own choosing.

Riverdale Week in Review (“Archie” strips from September 20-25, 1948):

The Friday Flop:

Ann-Margret guest-starred (as Ann-Margrock, of course) on "The Flintstones" on September 19, 1963. (This episode was the first one of the Hanna-Barbera program’s fourth season.) Ann-Margrock was designed by Doug Wildey, who was also involved with Hanna-Barbera’s “Jonny Quest.”

"Betty Brown, Ph.G." by Boody Rogers, originally published on September 13, 1937, and titled "Easy Come, Easy Go."

June Foray (the voice actor behind Rocky, Witch Hazel, Granny, Cindy Lou Who, the Chatty Cathy doll, Magica de Spell and far too many others to list here) was born on September 18, 1917.

Wordless Wednesday:

In Superman's daily strip, his imperfect duplicate Bizarro made his first newspaper appearance on September 17, 1958. He made his overall debut in Superboy #68, published in August 1958 but cover-dated October. Here are the first four strips with Bizarro:

Topper Tuesday (“The Van Swaggers,” topper to “Tillie the Toiler”):

Following his June 1934 animation debut, Donald Duck's first newspaper appearance came on September 16, 1934, in Disney's "Silly Symphony" strip:

The More You Know Monday (“This Curious World” by William Ferguson):

Slice-of-Life Sunday:

Legendary sports cartoonist Willard Mullin (perhaps best known for his iconic Brooklyn Bum) was born on September 14, 1902.

Sluggo Saturday (“Nancy” strips from August 28-September 2, 1944):

Jeff MacNelly's "Shoe" first appeared on September 13, 1977. Shoe was based on the lovable curmudgeon Jim Shumacher, a journalist who had been MacNelly’s boss at a Chapel Hill, NC, paper, and who taught me several years later when I was a journalism student at UNC. Here’s the first week of dailies:

Riverdale Week in Review (“Archie” strips from September 13-18, 1948):

The Friday Flop:

The animated series "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" premiered on September 12, 1972. The Hanna-Barbera show—which concerned the generation gap, then a trendy topic--looked less like the studio’s usual output because it hired cartoonist Marty Murphy (Playboy, many others) to design the characters.

Vintage ad (George Lichty for 3M brand scotch tape):

"Betty Brown, Ph.G." by Boody Rogers, originally published on September 6, 1937, and titled “Good News.” For the past several weeks, I’ve been presenting stand-alone gags, but this strip kicks off a long story arc, and I hope you enjoy it!

Animation producer John Sutherland was born on September 11, 1910. Hogan’s Alley published a great look at his unusual career, and we put it on our site: www.hoganmag.com/blog/animati...

Wordless Wednesday:

Popeye's thrice-weekly radio program premiered 90 years ago, on September 10, 1935. Although the vast majority of the program's episodes have been lost to history, you can listen to some surviving episodes now: archive.org/details/Pope...

Topper Tuesday (“Simp O’Dill,” topper to “The Nebbs”):

Lynn Johnston's warm, wonderful "For Better or for Worse" made its debut on September 9, 1979. Here’s the first strip (a Sunday) and the first week of dailies:

Vintage ad (Richard Taylor for Band-Aid):

The More You Know Monday (“This Curious World” by William Ferguson):

Jack Berrill's "Gil Thorp," about a coach taking over a beleaguered sports program, first appeared on September 8, 1958. (Just remember what they say about football here in the South, coach: if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.) Here are the first four dailies:

Slice-of-Life Sunday:

Mindful of the potential commercial value of his seminal creation, R.F. Outcault applied to the Library of Congress for copyright protection for the Yellow Kid on September 7, 1896.

The excellent bookseller Stuart Ng has Hogan's Alley #24 in stock, and here's his very flattering announcement. What is especially notable for some of you is that this is an opportunity for readers outside the US to order a copy. Just head over to: stuartngbooks.com/collections/...

I was watching reruns of What’s My Line on YouTube, and an April 1955 episode featured Dale Messick as a guest. (Just a regular guest, not the celebrity mystery guest.) She signed in as Dale Strom—her second husband’s name was Oscar Strom. For the record, Dorothy Kilgallen guessed her profession.

Sluggo Saturday (“Nancy” strips from August 21-26, 1944):

You could always tell Jug was going to be problematic.

Darby Conley's "Get Fuzzy" made its debut on September 6, 1999. (I enjoyed this strip when it first ran, but it's been in reruns for years now and many people don't seem to realize it when I mention it, which I find odd.) Here's the first week of dailies.

Visual evidence that this fershlugginer mailing is under way. (As we’re not in shops this issue, it’s by far our biggest mailing to date.) If you’d like to sneak into the mailing, there’s still time: www.hoganmag.com/stores/hogan...

Riverdale Week in Review (“Archie” strips from September 6-11, 1948):

The Friday Flop:

Nancy speaks for all of us.

Howie Schneider's "Eek & Meek" first appeared 60 years ago, on September 5, 1965 (a Sunday debut). Here’s the first strip.

"Betty Brown, Ph.G." by Boody Rogers, originally published on October 14, 1946, and titled "Flattery Does It." (This strip is from Betty's postwar reboot and is by Boody Rogers, who was still using the pen name Cliff Terrell.) Next week, I'll begin a long continuity that ran from 1935 into 1936.

Mort Walker's "Beetle Bailey" made its debut 75 years ago, on September 4, 1950. (Beetle started out as a hapless college student. He enlisted and became a hapless soldier in March 1951.) As best as I can determine, here are the first dailies.

Vintage ad (Jefferson Machamer for WHO radio):