Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for September 19-25, 2025…

145 years ago September 19, 1880 Swedish artist Carl Olof Petersen is born.

140 years ago September 21, 1885 Harold Tucker Webster is born. Themes of his more than 16,000 panel cartoons include The Timid Soul (featuring Caspar Milquetoast), Life’s Darkest Moments, and The Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime.

130 years ago September 25, 1895 Norwegian writer Sigurd Lybeck is born.

125 years ago September 24, 1900 Writer-artist Ham Fisher is born. The Joe Palooka creator is the only member expelled from the NCS for “conduct unbecoming a cartoonist.”

125 years ago September 25, 1900 New Yorker cartoonist Robert Day is born.

120 years ago September 20, 1905 French artist René Bonnet is born. He creates Fripounet et Marisette.

115 years ago September 21, 1910 Writer-editor Charles D. Rice is born. A member of the usage panel of American Heritage Dictionary, he contributes to dictionaries of comics himself with his This Week article “Squeans, Plewds and Briffits …” in 1954, reprinted in the collection What’s Funny about That? He provides such terms as those in the article’s title, terms later popularized in Backstage at the Strips by Mort Walker, who calls Rice “one of the few serious students of comicana around.”

105 years ago September 20, 1920 Jay Ward is born. The animator produces shows featuring such characters as George of the Jungle and Rocky and Bullwinkle.

105 years ago September 20, 1920 Winnie Winkle by Martin Branner begins. It’s one of the first comic strips about working women.

105 years ago September 25, 1920 French artist Philippe Josse (who works as “Barberousse”) is born.

95 years ago September 25, 1930 Cartoonist, satirist, singer-songwriter, and poet Shel Silverstein is born. His first published cartoon book collects his “Take Ten” work in Grab Your Socks! Much of his early work appears in Playboy.

85 years ago September 21, 1940 C.M. Payne’s S’Matter, Pop? ends.

85 years ago September 22, 1940 The French comics series Perlin et Pinpin by Maurice Cuvillier begins in Âmes Vallaintes.

80 years ago September 21, 1945 The William Randolph Hearst syndicate supervisor Moses Koenigsberg (after whom King Features Syndicate is named [Koenig=King]) dies of a heart attack at age 66.

75 years ago September 24, 1950 Mitzi McCoy by Kreigh Collins changes its name to Kevin the Bold.

70 years ago September 23, 1955 Writer-artist, editor, industry reporter, and researcher Robert J. Sodaro is born. He creates Girl Skout Wars and other comics.

70 years ago September 23, 1955 Artist Katharine P. Rice dies at age 76. She created the newspaper feature Flora Flirt.

70 years ago September 25, 1955 Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen begins.

65 years ago September 19, 1960 Artist Brad Moore is born. He’s known for his work on underground comix and horror connected and heavy metal connected fantasy art.

65 years ago September 22, 1960 Writer-artist and editor Richard Dominguez is born. He creates El Gato Negro, owns Azteca Productions, and co-founds (with Carlos Saldaña, Jose Martinez, and Fernando Rodriguez) the Professional Amigos of Comic Art Society.

60 years ago September 20, 1965 Moose by Bob Weber begins.

60 years ago September 21, 1965 Comic book pioneer Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson dies at age 75. He was the founder of DC Comics.

55 years ago September 24, 1970 Yoko Tsuno by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup makes its debut in Spirou.

55 years ago September 25, 1970 German writer Erich Maria Remarque dies of heart failure at age 72. Especially known for novels including All Quiet on the Western Front, he scripted Die Contibuben in the 1920s, drawn by Hermann Schütz.

55 years ago September 25, 1970 Award-winning writer-artist Paul Pope is born. He’s especially known for his work on Batman: Year 100 and for releases from his own Horse Press, including THB.

50 years ago September 21, 1975 Craig Thompson is born. The award-winning writer-artist creates Good-Bye, Chunky Rice; Blankets; Habibi; Space Dumplins; and Ginseng Roots.

40 years ago September 21, 1985 UKCAC begins. The first United Kingdom Comic Art Convention at the University of London is organized by Frank Plowright and Hassan Yussuf. (The last will be held in 1998.)

35 years ago September 20, 1990 Award-winning Italian artist Attilio Micheluzzi (who works as “Igor Arzt Bajeff”) dies at age 60. He created Johnny Focus and Simon Flash.

30 years ago September 21, 1995 Dutch artist and teacher Carl Hollander dies at age 61.

30 years ago September 22, 1995 Marvel and DC announce that their entire universes will cross over for the first time in a joint publishing project.

25 years ago September 20, 2000 Turkish-American artist Sururi Gümen dies at age 80. He created the comic strip Canbaba in Turkey and then worked on US comic books and strips.

25 years ago September 24, 2000 Award-winning Belgian writer-artist Monique Martin (who worked as “Gabrielle Vincent”) dies at age 72.

20 years ago September 21, 2005 Golden Age artist Mort Leav dies at age 89. He co-created Hillman’s The Heap and Skywolf.

15 years ago September 19, 2010 Writer-artist Stuart Hample dies at age 84. He was known for work on Rich & Famous and Robin Malone.

5 years ago September 20, 2020 Nest Heads cartoonist John Allen dies from brain cancer.

5 years ago September 21, 2020 Influential cartoonist, animator, director, and writer Ron Cobb dies on his 83rd birthday.