Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for July 24-30, 2026…

180 years ago July 27, 1846 Bulgarian artist Georgi Danchov is born. He may be the first artist in Bulgaria to use the comics format.

160 years ago July 28, 1866 Writer-artist Beatrix Potter is born. Her picture stories for children feature anthropomorphic animals, the best known being Peter Rabbit.

150 years ago July 24, 1876 The Belgian-French writer-artist Raoul Thomen is born. He creates Les Aventures Acrobatiques de Charlot.

140 years ago July 29, 1886 Prolific French artist André Galland is born.

135 years ago July 27, 1891 Ruth Plumly Thompson is born. Although she’s known as the writer of many Oz novels after L. Frank Baum’s death, she is also the first editor of the King Comics comic book series (which brings many King Features series to comic book format) as well as the Ace Comics series a year later.

135 years ago July 29, 1981 Dutch artist Wam Heskes is born.

120 years ago July 28, 1906 German artist Heinz Ludwig is born.

110 years ago July 25, 1916 Fred Lasswell is born. Hired by Barney Google and Snuffy Smith creator Billy DeBeck to assist on the strip, Lasswell takes it over after DeBeck dies in 1942.

100 years ago July 24, 1926 Italian teacher and artist Gaspare de Fiore is born.

100 years ago July 24, 1926 Lew Sayre Schwartz is born. The work of the award-winning artist and teacher includes ghosting for Bob Kane. He co-creates Deadshot and Vicki Vale and is a founding member of The National Cartoonists Society.

95 years ago July 27, 1931 François-Joseph Herman is born. The Belgian artist assists Willy Vandersteen.

85 years ago July 25, 1941 Influential underground comix writer-artist S. Clay Wilson is born. He is inducted in the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1992.

80 years ago July 26, 1946 Award-winning art director and magazine designer David Folkman is born. He’s co-publisher and design director of Hogan’s Alley.

75 years ago July 24, 1951 TV’s Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, is born.

75 years ago July 28, 1951 Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, based on the Lewis Carroll books, opens. Though not a huge success in its initial release, it is now considered to be one of the classics of the Disney animated features.

65 years ago July 25, 1961 Artist and animator John Robert Statema is born. He works on The Hero Alliance, Manhunter, Prime, and GrimJack.

65 years ago July 28, 1961 British artist John Watkiss is born. He provides concept art for films and is especially known for his work on Conan stories for Marvel and Sandman stories for DC.

60 years ago July 28, 1966 The Return of Happy the Clown writer-artist Troy Boyle is born.

60 years ago July 30, 1966 Chris Sprouse is born. The artist co-creates Tom Strong with Alan Moore for America’s Best Comics.

55 years ago July 24, 1971 Golden Age artist Lou Fine dies at age 56. He was known for his work on such features as “The Flame,” “Doll Man,” “Space Conquerors,” and fill-in art during World War II for Will Eisner’s The Spirit and for such comic strips as Peter Scratch.

50 years ago July 24, 1976 Manga artist Takahiro Satō is born. he creates the Bachi Bachi series.

50 years ago July 29, 1976 The first episode of Phil Collins’ Leonardo is published.

45 years ago July 24, 1981 Animator and artist-writer Liz Climo is born.

40 years ago July 24, 1986 The ABC TV news series 20/20 includes a Bob Brown segment saluting Marvel Comics’ 25th anniversary.

35 years ago July 27, 1991 Virginia Clark dies of cancer at age 91. Also known as Virginia Huget, she began work on comic strips in 1926 and continued Percy Crosby’s Skippy and Don Flowers’ Oh Diana!

30 years ago July 28, 1996 Winnie Winkle ends. Begun by Martin Branner, it was one of the first comic strips about working women.

25 years ago July 27, 2001 Artist Martha Orr dies at age 92. She created Apple Mary in 1934: a strip that eventually evolved into Mary Worth.

25 years ago July 30 or 31, 2001 Japanese artist and editor Youji Muku dies at age 72.

20 years ago July 27, 2006 Portuguese artist Carlos Roque dies at age 70. He worked for Spirou.

20 years ago July 27, 2006 Dutch writer-artist W.G. van de Hulst Jr. dies at age 89.

15 years ago July 29, 2011 The Cowboys & Aliens film opens, based on the 2006 graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Fred Van Lente, Andrew Foley, Dennis Calero, and Luciano Lima.

10 years ago July 26, 2016 Dutch artist Coen van Hunnik dies four days before his 91st birthday. With Phiny Dick, he developed the newspaper strip Olle Kapoen for the Toonder Studios.

10 years ago July 27, 2016 Prolific award-winning artist Jack Davis dies at age 91. Whereas he caught fan attention with his work for EC comics, he became nationally known for his poster, magazine, and advertising art.

10 years ago July 27, 2016 Artist Brett Merhar dies following blunt force trauma at age 46. He created the strip Free for All, which became an animated TV show.

10 years ago July 27, 2016 Artist Richard Thompson dies of complications of Parkinson’s Disease at age 58. He created the Cul de Sac strip and Richard’s Poor Almanac.

10 years ago July 29, 2016 Belgian colorist Guy Dessicy dies at age 92. The head of Publiart and co-founder of the Belgian Comic Strip Center was a member of Studio Hergé.

5 years ago July 24, 2021 Spanish writer-artist Carlos Romeu Müller (who worked as “Miguelito”) dies at age 73.

5 years ago July 25, 2021 Belgian writer Charles-Henri-Jean Dewisme (who worked as “Henri Vernes”) dies at age 102.