National Cartoonists Day
National Cartoonists Day on May 5 honors the men and women who've made America laugh for 130 years — the newspaper strip creators, political cartoonists, comic book artists, New Yorker gag cartoonists, and modern webcomic illustrators who have quietly shaped American culture with a pencil and a punchline. May 5 marks the 1895 first publication of 'Hogan's Alley,' widely credited as the first American comic strip.
Why it matters
PENCIL-SHARP GENIUS!
It’s National Cartoonists Day. On May 5, America honors the drawn-with-ink, written-with-wit craft that built Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, The New Yorker’s back pages, and the thousand-plus Sunday strips that taught generations of Americans to find the joke.
THE STORY
The first American comic strip appeared on May 5, 1895 — ‘Hogan’s Alley’ by Richard Outcault, in the New York World. The main character was the ‘Yellow Kid,’ a bald, jug-eared street urchin with a yellow nightshirt. He was America’s first recurring comic-strip character. He was wildly popular. Within 5 years, every American newspaper was running a comic strip.
The golden age began around 1900. Krazy Kat (1913), Gasoline Alley (1918), Little Orphan Annie (1924), Popeye (1929), Dick Tracy (1931), Blondie (1930), Peanuts (1950). Newspaper strips were the mass medium — the way America met ideas before television. A top strip was syndicated to 2,000+ papers and reached 100 million readers a day.
The postwar era produced the canon. Charles Schulz drew Peanuts every single day from October 2, 1950 to February 12, 2000 — 50 years, 17,897 strips, all in his own hand. Schulz did not use assistants. Never missed a strip. Died one day before his final Sunday strip ran. Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson, 1985-1995), Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau, 1970-present), The Far Side (Gary Larson, 1980-1995) followed in the same spirit — artist-driven, uncompromising, culturally central.
The digital age transformed cartooning. Newspaper circulation collapsed; syndicate strips declined. But webcomics flourished. xkcd, Dinosaur Comics, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Sarah’s Scribbles — a new generation reached millions online without newspaper middlemen. The New Yorker’s cartoon tradition continued. Political cartooning survived. National Cartoonists Day, founded by the National Cartoonists Society in 1995 (the 100th anniversary of Hogan’s Alley), honors this 130-year lineage.
Happiness is a warm puppy.
FOUR AMERICAN CARTOONISTS WHO CHANGED THE FORM
Four artists whose work defines the medium:
Charles Schulz (1922-2000)
Peanuts. 50 years, 17,897 strips, drawn alone. Created Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, and the most-read comic in history. A quiet, philosophical Minnesotan who changed how America thought about childhood.
Bill Watterson (1958-)
Calvin and Hobbes. 10-year run, 3,160 strips. Retired in 1995 at the peak of his fame; never licensed merchandise; never returned. The most uncompromising cartoonist of the 20th century. Rumored to live in Ohio; still draws quietly.
Gary Larson (1950-)
The Far Side. 15 years, daily panels. Single-image gag cartoons; weirdly brilliant. Retired 1995, came back with web-only revival in 2019. Revolutionized what a single panel could do.
Garry Trudeau (1948-)
Doonesbury. Running since 1970 (50+ years). First comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize (1975). The definitive American political cartoonist; blended satire, narrative, and serialized storytelling for three generations.
GREAT AMERICAN CARTOON VENUES
Six institutions that publish, honor, and preserve American cartoon art:
DID YOU KNOW?!
Peanuts strips appeared in 2,600+ newspapers at peak.
In the 1990s, Peanuts was syndicated in 2,600 newspapers across 75 countries in 21 languages. Estimated daily readership: 355 million. The most-read comic strip in history.
Bill Watterson refused to sell Calvin and Hobbes merchandise.
Watterson was offered ~$400 million for merchandising rights (stuffed animals, lunchboxes, cartoons). He refused every offer. He believed merchandising would destroy the integrity of the strip. Those Calvin-peeing-on-things car decals? All pirated; none authorized.
The first Pulitzer for cartooning was in 1922.
Awarded to Rollin Kirby of the New York World for his editorial cartoon ‘On the Road to Moscow.’ The category has honored political cartoonists ever since. Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury, 1975) was the first strip cartoonist to win.
Hogan’s Alley triggered the term ‘yellow journalism.’
The Yellow Kid appeared in two papers (Hearst’s Journal and Pulitzer’s World) in 1896, sparking a bidding war. The sensationalist tactics of both papers gave us the term ‘yellow journalism’ — named directly after the Yellow Kid’s yellow nightshirt.
READ & LAUGH
The Complete Peanuts (25 volumes)
Charles Schulz · 2004-2016 (Fantagraphics)
All 17,897 Peanuts strips, in publication order, across 25 hardback volumes. One of the great publishing achievements in American cartooning history. A lifetime’s reading.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (3 volumes)
Bill Watterson · 2005
All 3,160 Calvin and Hobbes strips in 3 massive slipcased volumes. Watterson’s final, definitive collection. A book you buy once and keep forever.
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
David Michaelis · 2007
The definitive Schulz biography. 672 pages. Controversial for its portrayal of Schulz’s personal life; the family disputed parts. But the most deeply researched account of a singular American life.
PAIR IT WITH
Sunday comics in a real newspaper. Try to find a printed one; they still exist.
A stick figure. A cartoon face. Five minutes. Just try.
‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ (1965). 25 minutes. The greatest animated TV special ever made.
A Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes collection to the kid in your life. Gateway reading for a whole lifetime.
Share a Strip. Thank a Cartoonist.
Tag us @celebrationnation with #NationalCartoonistsDay. Share your favorite single strip or panel. We’re building the ultimate list.
How to celebrate
Honor the pen-and-ink tradition:
- 📰 Read the Sunday comics. A dying institution; still beautiful. Most major American newspapers still publish the funnies section on Sunday. Support them.
- 📚 Buy a collection. 'The Complete Peanuts,' 'The Far Side Gallery,' 'Calvin and Hobbes' — coffee-table books that become family heirlooms.
- ✏️ Try drawing. A stick figure a day for a week. Humility-inducing; bonds you to the craft.
- 📖 Read a cartoonist memoir. Schulz bio, Charles Addams bio, Gary Larson retrospectives. These are exceptional American lives.
- 🏛️ Visit a museum. Charles Schulz Museum (Santa Rosa, CA), Billy Ireland Cartoon Library (Ohio State), National Cartoon Museum (Norwalk, CT).
Celebration ideas by audience
For families
Family comic-strip night. Pull up 'Peanuts' classics online; read them aloud. Kids love the Snoopy Sunday strips.
For kids
Give them a notebook and a pencil. Let them invent a character. Single most reliable rainy-afternoon activity.
For couples
Watch Schulz's 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' together in any season. 25 minutes. Timeless.
At the office
Far Side or New Yorker cartoon printed and taped to the break room fridge is the single longest-running office morale-builder in America.
At school
Classic English/art cross-curricular project: analyze a comic strip's visual language. High school students love the 'Calvin and Hobbes' stuff.
In your community
Support your local newspaper's comics page; subscribe; mention cartoonists by name on social media.
On your own
A good cartoonist collection + a coffee + a quiet Saturday morning. Healing.
More to celebrate
National Handmade Day
National Handmade Day is a reminder that making something with your hands is still one of the best feelings we've got.