1934 in comics
Notable events of 1934 in comics.
Events and publications
January
January 7: Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim make their debut. Flash Gordon will run until 2003, while Jungle Jim lasts until 1954.January 16: The first episode of the gag comic Van Boring, by future animation legend Frank Tashlin, is published. It will run until 1936. January 22: Alex Raymond's Secret Agent X-9 makes its debut and will run until 1996. The original stories are written by famous detective writer Dashiel Hammett.February
February - August: Hergé's Popol Out West is serialized in Le Petit Vingtième.March
March 4: The final episode of Bucky Bug as part of the Silly Symphony feature is published.March 5: Frank Victor Martinek's Don Winslow of the Navy makes its debut. It will run until 30 July 1955.March 19: Will Gould's Red Barry makes its debut.April
April: David Low's Colonel Blimp makes his debut.May
- Zeke Wolf and the three little pigs debut in comics, in a Tom Wood's table for the magazine Good Housekkeping.
June
June 11: Lee Falk and Fred Fredericks's Mandrake the Magician makes its debut.- June 30: The first episode of the Mickey Mouse story Bobo the Elephant appears in print, by Floyd Gottfredson and Ted Osborne. This marks the debut of the villain Eli Squinch.
July
July 23: The first episode of Bud Counihan's Betty Boop newspaper comic is published. It will run until 1937.Famous Funnies #1 - The first full-color comic book sold to the public. It set the standard of 68 pages, including covers, and sold for 10 cents. Early issues of this series, starting with #1, advertised the contents as "100 Comics and Games - Puzzles - Magic."August
August 9: in Le petit Vingtième, first episode of The blue lotus, by Hergè.August 13: Al Capp's Li'l Abner makes its debut.September
September 16: Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro's Silly Symphony comic strip adapts the cartoon The Wise Little Hen, which marks the official debut of Donald Duck as a comics character.September 23: Rube Goldberg's Boob McNutt comes to a close.Famous Funnies #2 - With this issue, Famous Funnies would become the first monthly newsstand comic publication.October
October 1: Fred Neher's Life's Like That makes its debut.October 7: Fred Harman's Bronc Peeler makes its debut.October 14: The first issue of the Italian comics magazine L'Avventuroso is published. It will run until 16 May 1943.October 21: First publication of the French Disney comics magazine Le Journal de Mickey. A test issue was already published on June 1, 1934.October 22: Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates makes its debut.Famous Funnies #3November
November 17: In Billy DeBeck's Barney Google Snuffy Smith makes its debut, leading to an eventual title change as Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.Famous Funnies #4- Adolphe Barreaux' Sally the Sleuth debuts in Spicy Detective.
December
December 13: E.O. Plauen's Vater und Sohn makes its debut.December 16: The U.S. magazine The American Weekly prints the first episode of Les Mystères Surrealistes de New York, a comic strip drawn by famous painter Salvador Dalí. It will run until 7 July 1935 Famous Funnies #5Specific date unknown
- Walter Goetz launches his newspaper comics Colonel Up and Mr. Down and Dab and Flounder.
- Shaka Bontaro draws an illegal Japanese-language Mickey Mouse story: Mikkii no Katsuyaku.
Births
January
January 11: Antonio Seguí, Argentine cartoonist,.February
February 18: Cor Blok, Dutch illustrator and comics artist,.March
March 10: Fujiko A. Fujio, Japanese manga artist,.June
June 28: Georges Wolinski, French cartoonist and comics writer,December
December 28: Herb Gardner, American playwright, screenwriter and comics artist, from lung disease.Deaths
February
February 15: Louis Forton, French comics writer and artist, dies at age 54.February 27: John Terry, American comics artist and animator, dies at age 53 or 54.June
June 3: Chic Jackson, American comics artist, dies at age 57 from a heart attack.June 4: August Roeseler, German illustrator, dies at age 68.July
July 26: Winsor McCay, American comics artist and animator dies at age 64 from a cerebral embolism.November
November 23: Albert Funke Küpper, Dutch comics artist, dies at age 40 in a car accident.December
December 10: Dan Smith, American illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 69.Specific date unknown
- Pierre Dmitrow, Russian-French illustrator, dies at age 50 or 51.
- Lee Do-Yeong, Korean comics artist and illustrator, dies at age 49 or 50.
- August Roeseler, German cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 77 or 78.