This is a timeline of significant events in comics in the 1920s.
1920 January 4: The first issue of the Flemish Catholic children's magazine Zonneland and its Walloon sister publication Petits Belges are published. Both will feature a lot of children's comics. Petits Belges changes its name into Bonjour in 1957 and Tremplin in 1960. January 14: In E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre, Castor Oyl makes his debut. January 17: The first issue of the British comics magazine Film Fun is published. It will run until 15 September 1962. April 4: Charles A. Voight's Betty makes its debut. It will run until 1943. April 7: The picture story Liška Bystrouška ("Vixen Sharp-Ears"), scripted by Rudolf Těsnohlídek and drawn by Stanislav Lolek, starts serialisation in the Czech newspaper Lidové Noviny, where it will run until 23 June. August: In Portugal Rocha Vieira creates Fitas de Juca e Zeca. Stan Cross' The Potts makes its debut, but as You & Me (it receives its more familiar title, The Potts only in 1951). He will draw it personally until 1939, after which Jim Russell will take it over until his death in 2001, which also means the comic strip's conclusion. August 15: Harrison Cady's Peter Rabbit makes its debut. He will continue the series until 1948, after which Vincent Fago takes it over. September 20: Martin Branner's Winnie Winkle makes its debut. It will run until 1996. October 17: Oscar Jacobsson's Adamson (known in English as Silent Sam) makes its debut. It will un until 1964. November 8: Mary Tourtel's Rupert Bear makes its debut. Her husband Herbert Tourtel writes the texts, while she illustrates. December 24: The first daily episode of the King Features series The Five-Fifteen (later, Sappo the commuter) by Elzie Crisler Segar is printed. Frans Masereel publishes the pantomime comics and graphic novels Idée, sa naissance, sa vie, sa mort (The Idea, its birth, its life, its death) and Histoire sans paroles: 60 images dessinées et gravées sur bois (Story Without Words). Harry Folkard creates Billy Bimbo and Peter Porker which is published in The London Evening News. The comic strip will become an even bigger sensation in The Netherlands, where it is published as Jopie Slim and Dikkie Bigmans from 1921 on.
1921 January 3: Russ Westover's Tillie the Toiler makes its debut. It will run until 15 March 1959. February 14: In Frank King's Gasoline Alley Walt Wallet discovers a baby at his doorstep, who will later be named Skeezix and adopted as his own son. June: The first issue of the Spanish comics magazine Pulgarcito is published. May 20: John Millar Watt's Pop debuts as Reggie Breaks It Gently. July 18: Fernand Wicheler publishes Le Dernier Film, the first Belgian newspaper comic. It will run until 1926. September 16: Gene Ahern and Bill Freyse's Our Boarding House makes its debut. It will run until 22 December 1984. November 13: In Jimmy Bancks' Us Fellers the character Ginger Meggs makes his debut. The series will eventually be named after him and become the longest-running Australian comics series of all time. The final episode of Richard F. Outcault's Buster Brown is published. The first episode of Ed Wheelan's Minute Movies is published. It will run until 1936. Monte Crews' The Mysterious Family Next Door first appears in print. It will run for about a year.
1922 February 13: The first episode of Al Posen's Them Days Is Gone Forever appears in print. March 20: J. R. Williams' Out Our Way makes its debut. It will run until 1977. May 2: A.M. de Jong and George van Raemdonck's Bulletje en Boonestaak makes its debut. It will run until 17 November 1937. July 17: In Billy DeBeck's Barney Google Spark Plug the horse makes its debut, leading to an eventual title change as Barney Google and Sparky Plug. July 22: J. P. Arnot's Helpful Henry makes its debut. It will run until 1927. July 23: Harry Julius' The Crazy Crew of the Crayfish debuts. It will run until 22 February 1923. September 22: The first issue of the British comics magazine The Wizard is published. It will run until 16 November 1963, after which it merges with The Rover. October 9: Larry Whittington's Fritzi Ritz makes its debut. In 1925 Ernie Bushmiller will take over the series. October 15: Comic artist Monte Crews gets injured in a car accident. Although he survives and recovers, it means the end of his newspaper comic The Mysterious Family Next Door. October 30: The first episode of George Herriman's Stumble Inn appears in print. The series will run until 1925. November 6: Joe Cunningham's Rufus McGoofus makes its debut. It will run in papers until about 1928. November 29: Walter Berndt's Smitty makes its debut. It will run until 1973. George Studdy's Bonzo the dog makes its debut. Storm P.'s Peter og Ping makes its debut. The final episode of Gus Mager's Hawkshaw the Detective is published. The final episode of Tad Dorgan's Judge Rummy is published. Unk White creates the comic strip Freckles. Rocha Vieira creates As Proezas de Necas e Tonecas. In the magazine El hogar, Don Pancho Talero by Arturo Lanteri, the first Argentine comics, makes its debut.
1923 February 22: The final episode of Harry Julius' The Crazy Crew of the Crayfish is published. March 15: Percy Crosby's Skippy makes its debut. May 22: Sol Hess and Wallace Carlson's The Nebbs makes its debut. June 19: Frank Willard and Ferd Johnson's Moon Mullins makes its debut. It will run until 2 June 1991. August 1: Otto Messmer adapts the animated cartoon character Felix the Cat into a comic strip. September 16: Syd Nicholls's Fatty Finn makes its debut. It will run until July 1977. December 8: The first issue of Jungle Jinks magazine is published. It will last a mere two years. The Scottish comics magazine The Vanguard makes its debut. It would run until 1926. Dutch cartoonist Ton van Tast creates his comic strip De Daverende Dingen Dezer Dagen for the Dutch satirical magazine Paljas. It will run from 1923 until 1948. The first episode of Lee W. Stanley's The Old Home Town is published, which will run until 1944. Bjarne Restan's Per og Peik i Sukkerlandet makes its debut. Oda Nobutsune and Katsuishi Kabashima create The Adventures of Sho-Chan. The first episode of Der Contibuben, a comic series written by famous German novelist Erich Maria Remarque and drawn by Hermann Schütz is published. The series will run until 1926.
1924 January 26: Ethel Hays' Flapper Fanny Says makes its debut. It will run until June 29, 1940. February 18: Edgar Martin's comic strip Girl is renamed after the most popular character Boots into Boots and Her Buddies. February 19: The first episode of Loron Taylor's Mom 'n' Pop is published. April 14: Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs makes its debut. It will run until 10 January 1988. May 16: The first issue of the Russian illustrated children's magazine Murzilka is published. June 25: Chic Young's Dumb Dora makes its debut. It will run until January 1936. July 17: The Society of Australian Black and White Artists (nowadays the Australian Cartoonists' Association) is established. August 5: Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie makes its debut. September 27: In Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie Daddy Warbucks makes his debut."1924 'Little Orphan Annie' comic strip". The page says only that this is from 1924, but a small "9-27" appears in the fourth panel. Note that "Daddy", as well as his given name "Oliver", both appear in these strips. October 1: The first issue of the Italian comics magazine Il Giornalino is published. October 5: Louis Forton's Bibi Fricotin makes its debut. December 19: In Turkey Ramiz Gökçe's Bobi'nin Marifetleri appears in the humor magazine Akbaba. H. T. Webster's Timid Soul makes its debut, which also marks the debut of Caspar Milquetoast. The series will run until 1953. Gelett Burgess adapts his Goops characters into a comic strip, but it will only run for about a year. Benjamin Rabier's Gédéon makes its debut. Jan Lunde's Professor Skjeel makes its debut. Bjarne Restan's Paal og Pelles Reise makes its debut. In Russia the artist's collective Kukryniksy is founded, who will make many propaganda posters, some with sequential illustrated narratives, much like comics. In Italy, the house Imperia, near to the Fascist Party, publishes the first Italian comic album, Le burle di Furbicchio ai maghi (Furbicchio mocks the wizards), by the futurist painter Filiberto Scarpelli, (father of the screenwriter Furio Scarpelli).
1925 January 9: The final episode of Stumble Inn by George Herriman is published. February 14: The first episode of S. K. Perkins' Spadger's XI is published, which will continue until 1931, when Chick Gordon takes over the series. February 21: The first issue of the American humor and cartoons magazine The New Yorker is published. On its cover their mascot, Eustace Tilley, designed by Rea Irvin, makes his debut. February 22: Ruth Vickery's Betty and Bill is first published. It will run until 3 May, after which the series restarts on 28 June and runs until 2 May 1926. April 4: The final episode of Al Posen's Them Days Is Gone Forever is published. May 3: Alain Saint-Ogan's Zig et Puce makes its debut in Dimanche Illustré, weekly supplement of the French newspaper l’Excelsior. June 1: Bill Conselman and Charles Plumb's Ella Cinders makes its debut and will run until 1961, distributed by the United Feature Syndicate. August 9: Wynne W. Davies published the first episode of Percy the Pommy. August 30: Ferd Johnson's Texas Slim makes its debut through the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. November 22: Salvador Bartolozzi launches the first issue of the Spanish children's magazine Pinocho, in which his comics character Pinocho makes its debut. The magazine will run until 1931. December 7: Paul Robinson's Etta Kett makes its debut. December 14: The final issue of Jungle Jinks magazine is published. It is retitled: Playbox. December 25: In Alain Saint-Ogan's Zig et Puce, Alfred the penguin makes his first appearance. The final episode of Winsor McCay's Dream of the Rarebit Fiend is published. Frans Masereel publishes the pantomime comics graphic novel La Ville: cent bois gravés (The City). Faith Burrows's Flapper Filosofy makes its debut. Ola Fogelberg's Pekka Puupää makes its debut. It wil run until 1975. Sergej Mironović Golovčenko creates Maks i Maksic. George Hager and his sister Mary Hager Dearborn take over their father's, Dok Hager, Dok's Dippy Duck and retitle and continue it as The Adventures of Waddles.
1926
March March 1: The first episode of Roland J. Scott's newspaper comic series Sally Sallies is published. March 21: The final episode of Wynne W. Davies' Percy the Pommy appears in print.
April April: The first issue of the Italian children's and comics magazine Giornale dei Ragazzi is published. It will run until November 1943. .Gianni Bono. Guida al fumetto italiano. Volume II, Epierre, 2003. p. 918. Featuring a dutiful observance of the moral dictates of Fascism, the magazine consisted mostly of columns on various topics, and introduced the comics (of strict Italian production, in compliance with the directives of the MinCulPop) only from the 8th number in last year of publication. April 19: Al Posen's series Jinglet debuts. It will run, with an interruption between 1950 and 1953, until 1960.
May May 1: The final episode of Fernand Wicheler's newspaper comic Le Dernier Film appears in print. May 2: The final episode of Ruth Vickery's Betty and Bill is published. May 9: Norman McMurray's Fish and Chips debuts. It will run until 26 June 1927. May 16: The first episode of Billy DeBeck's Parlor, Bedroom and Sink is published, which would change its name to Bunky later on.
June June 24: In Frank King's Gasoline Alley Walt Wallet marries Phyllis Blossom.
July