1931 in comics

Notable events of 1931 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

Events and publications

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

January

• January 7: Kho Wang Gie's comic strip Put On makes its debut and will continue for 30 years. [1]
• January 21: After the death of C. W. Kahles the comic strip Hairbreadth Harry is continued by F.O. Alexander. [2] [3]

February

• February 28: The final gag of Harold C. Earnshaw's newspaper comic strip The Pater is published.[4]

April

• April 17: In E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre Popeye first quotes his classic line: "I yam what I yam an' tha's all I yam." [5]

May

• May 3: In E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre a prototypical version of J. Wellington Wimpy makes his debut.[6]

June

• June 26: In E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre spinach is introduced as the source of Popeye's power.

July

• July 8: in a Floyd Gottfredson’s strip, a stray dog eats the Mickey Mouse’s ice-cream; it’s the first appearance of Pluto in the comics.

October

• October 4: Chester Gould's Dick Tracy makes his debut. It naturally marks the debut of the protagonist, Dick Tracy too. [7]
• October 11: In Dick Tracy the villain Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice makes his debut.
• October 12: In Dick Tracy his girlfriend Tess Trueheart makes her debut. [7]
• October 16: In the first narrative of Dick Tracy the father of Tess Trueheart is murdered, which is the first instance of a cold-blooded murder appearing uncensored in a comic strip. [7]

November

• November 27: The final issue of the Spanish comics magazine Pinocho is published. [8]

December

• December 26: The first episode of the biblical text comic Illustrated Sunday School Lesson is published. It will run until 26 February 1973. [9]

Specific date unknown

• Edwina Dumm's Alec the Great makes its debut and will run until 1969. [10]
• Suihō Tagawa's Norakuro makes its debut.
• The final episode of Doings of the Duffs is published. The last artist to draw it is Buford Tune. [11]
• Jean Bruller publishes his comic strip Le Mariage de Monsieur Lakonik. [12]
• Henri Bruneau publishes Zbib et Barnabé. [13]
• William Ferguson publishes This Curious World (1931-1952). [14]
• Louis Diamond publishes Mick. [15]
• Hergé publishes Fred & Mille in Mon Avenir, which will be continued by François Gianolla a year later. [16]
• Guglielmo Guastaveglia creates early Italian versions of Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat. [17]
• Captain Roscoe Fawcett and Bruno Thompson's Screen Oddities, a daily comic about the lives of Hollywood stars, is first published. [18]

Deaths

January

• January 21: C. W. Kahles, German-American comics artist (Hairbreadth Harry), dies at age 63 from a heart attack. [2]

May

• May 19: Ralph Barton, American caricaturist, cartoonist and comics artist (worked for The New Yorker), commits suicide at age 39. [19]
• May 28: Guydo, French comics artist, illustrator and novelist, dies at age 62. [20]

June

• June 6: Herbert Bird Tourtel, British journalist, poet and comics writer (Rupert Bear), husband of Mary Tourtel, dies at age 57. [21]

July

• July 11: Jean-Louis Forain, aka Louis-Henri Forain, French illustrator, painter and comics artist, dies at age 78. [22]

August

• August 25: Marcel Arnac, French novelist, illustrator, comics writer and artist (Les Désopilantes Aventures de Trouillet Détective and other one-shot comics), passes away at age 44 in an accident. [23]

September

• September 15: Jacques Marie Gaston Onfroy de Bréville, aka Job, French illustrator, caricaturist and painter, dies at age 72. [24]

References

1. "Kho Wang Gie". lambiek.net.
2. "C. W. Kahles". lambiek.net.
3. "F. O. Alexander". lambiek.net.
4. "Harold C. Earnshaw". lambiek.net.
5. Shapiro, Associate Librarian and Lecturer in Legal Research Fred R.; Shapiro, Fred R. (12 August 2018). The Yale Book of Quotations. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300107982 – via Google Books.
6. "Elzie Crisler Segar". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
7. "Chester Gould". lambiek.net.
8. "Salvador Bartolozzi". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
9. "Alfred J. Buescher". lambiek.net.
10. "Edwina Dumm's biography,", Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (Ohio State University). Accessed Dec. 4, 2017.
11. "Buford Tune". lambiek.net.
12. "Jean Bruller". lambiek.net.
13. "Henri Bruneau". lambiek.net.
14. "William Ferguson". lambiek.net.
15. "Louis Diamond". lambiek.net.
16. "François Gianolla". lambiek.net.
17. "Guglielmo Guastaveglia". lambiek.net.
18. "Bud Thompson". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
19. "Ralph Barton". lambiek.net.
20. "Guydo". lambiek.net.
21. https://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk/articles/article/herbert-bird-tourtel
22. "Jean-Louis Forain". lambiek.net. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
23. "Marcel Arnac". lambiek.net.
24. "Job". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 21, 2020.