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 #3
November
- 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 #5
Specific 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.
First issues by title
- Famous Funnies on newsstands in May, cover dated July, published by Eastern [Color Printing Company].