Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for January 23-29, 2026…

225 years ago January 28, 1801 French artist Victor Adam is born.

125 years ago January 26, 1901 Napoleon and Uncle Elby creator Clifford McBride is born.

120 years ago January 24, 1906 Animator, composer, and director Wilfred Jackson is born. Known for his work for Walt Disney, he helps develop the system that adds sound to “Steamboat Willie” and works on award-winning Disney projects.

120 years ago January 24, 1906 Endre Lukács is born. The Hungarian-Dutch artist is especially known for his work for the Dutch Donald Duck weekly.

105 years ago January 23, 1921 Artist Howard Sparber is born. His work includes cartoon character Timmy, the comic strip The Byrd House, and assisting Crockett Johnson on Barnaby.

105 years ago January 25, 1921 Rossum’s Universal Robots introduces the word “robot” to the world, when the play R.U.R. by Karl Čapek has its premiere.

100 years ago January 23, 1926 Spanish artist Teodoro Gascón Baquero dies at age 75.

100 years ago January 24, 1926 Award-winning magazine cartoonist John Gallagher is born.

100 years ago January 25, 1926 Artist Robert J. Clarke is born. He is known for his commercial work, including hundreds of contributions to MAD.

95 years ago January 23, 1931 Dexter Taylor is born. The award-winning writer-artist works for Archie Comics for more than 50 years.

95 years ago January 24, 1931 Belgian writer-artist Paul Deliège is born. The Spirou contributor is known for his work on such characters as Bobo and Les Krostons.

95 years ago January 25, 1931 Pablo Gomez is born. The award-winning movie scripter, director, and comics writer founds the United Komiks company P.S.G. Publishing House.

90 years ago January 26, 1936 Artist Sal Buscema is born. He’s especially known for his work for Marvel on such projects as Captain America and The Incredible Hulk.

85 years ago January 24, 1941 Gary K. Wolf is born. The novelist writes Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (published in 1981), which was adapted by Touchstone in 1988 as the award-winning Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

80 years ago January 23, 1946 The Italian magazine Albi dell’intrepido begins from Editrice Universo.

80 years ago January 25, 1946 Prolific Dutch writer Patty Klein is born. Called the “grande dame of Dutch comics,” she works for the Toonder Studios. She is knighted February 20, 2019 in Order of the Dutch Lion for her contributions to Dutch culture.

80 years ago January 27, 1946 Don Dohler is born. The director, publisher, and artist creates Pro Junior.

75 years ago January 26, 1951 Retailer, collector, and historian Gary Colabuono is born. He founds Chicago’s Moondog’s comics store chain.

75 years ago January 28, 1951 Award-winning letterer and logo designer Todd Klein is born. He’s known especially for his work on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series.

70 years ago January 27, 1956 Artist Tom Vincent is born. He’s known for his work for Marvel.

65 years ago January 25, 1961 Walt Disney’s animated adaptation of a Dodie Smith novel opens. One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a box office hit and cuts costs by using photocopying as one of its animation devices.

65 years ago January 25, 1961 British comics magazine The Victor begins.

60 years ago January 28, 1966 Influential and award-winning Belgian artist George Van Raemdonck dies at age 77. He’s credited with creating the first ongoing Dutch comics series with recurring characters.

55 years ago January 27, 1971 Writer-artist E. Simms Campbell dies 25 days after his 65th birthday. He created the Cuties newspaper feature and was considered to be the first African-American cartoonist to be published in national slick magazines. He was a regular Esquire contributor and created its mascot, Esky.

55 years ago January 28, 1971 The Comics Code is changed to allow classic vampires, ghouls, and werewolves in comics that carry its seal.

50 years ago January 26, 1976 Artist Fred Meagher dies at age 63. He drew Straight Arrow and Tom Mix as well as the Broncho Bill comic strip.

40 years ago January 23, 1986 Animator and artist Frank Grundeen dies at age 74. He was known for his work on Disney comics and continued the Donald Duck newspaper strip after the death of Al Taliaferro.

40 years ago January 28, 1986 Allen Saunders dies at age 86. He wrote the newspaper strips Big Chief Wahoo (which became Steve Roper), Mary Worth, and Kerry Drake.

35 years ago January 24, 1991 Dutch artist J.H. Koeleman Jr. dies at age 64.

30 years ago January 28, 1996 Artist, illustrator, educator, and Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth dies at age 84.

30 years ago January 28, 1996 Writer Jerry Siegel dies at age 81. Though he wrote many comics and created other characters, he’s best known for co-creating Superman with artist Joe Shuster.

25 years ago January 23, 2001 Writer-artist Fred Ray dies at age 80. He was especially known for his Golden Age Superman cover art and for drawing the adventures of DC’s Tomahawk.

15 years ago January 28, 2011 Italian teacher and artist Gaspare de Fiore dies at age 84.

15 years ago January 29, 2011 Turkish artist Orhan Halil Tolon dies at age 98 or 99. Lambiek calls him “one of the founding fathers of the Turkish comic strip during the 1930s.”

10 years ago January 26, 2016 British cartoonist and Punch contributor Bernard Cookson dies of cancer at age 79.

10 years ago January 29, 2016 Artist, teacher, and animator Linus Maurer dies two weeks after his 90th birthday. (Charles Schulz named a Peanuts character after him.)

5 years ago January 24, 2021 French artist Marcel Uderzo dies of COVID at age 87. The brother of Astérix co-creator Albert Uderzo assisted him and also built his own comics career.