Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for March 15-21, 2019...

180 years ago March 17, 1839 Yoshitoshi Tsukioka is born. He becomes a foremost Japanese woodblock artist.

130 years ago March 18, 1889 Cartoonist Gene Byrnes is born. He creates It’s a Great Life if You Don’t Weaken and Reg’lar Fellers.

95 years ago March 16, 1924 Belgian artist Pierre Defoux is born. He’s especially known for Xavier.

85 years ago March 19, 1934 Red Barry by Will Gould begins.

70 years ago March 16, 1949 Artist Stanley E. Armstrong, the third artist to draw “Slim Jim and the Force,” dies at age 75.

70 years ago March 21, 1949 French comics writer Jo Valle, known for L’Espiègle Lili, dies at age 83 or 84.

65 years ago March 20, 1954 Koning Hollewijn begins by Marten Toonder.

65 years ago March 20, 1954 The British comics magazine Swift begins.

60 years ago March 15, 1959 The Sunday Tillie the Toiler newspaper strip ends; the daily strip ended March 7.

60 years ago March 16, 1959 Artist and game designer Robert Kraus is born. He creates RAK Graphics.

55 years ago March 21-22, 1964 A so-called “Alley Tally” party is held at Jerry Bails’ home. A number of comics fans (including Ronn Foss, Don Glut, Don and Maggie Thompson, Mike Vosburg, and Grass Green) participate in the pioneering gathering, meeting to count fan ballots for the annual Alley Awards.

50 years ago March 15, 1969 The first episode of Janus Stark by Tom Tully and Francisco Solano López is published.

50 years ago March 20, 1969 Dutch artist Henri van de Velde dies, age 73.

45 years ago March 21, 1974 British artist Eric Parker dies of double pneumonia at age 75. He was known for his work on Sexton Blake, The Story of the Soldier, and Buck Jones.

35 years ago March 15, 1984 Writer-artist Joseph Hughes Newton dies at age 78. He created Tullus, a Biblical comic strip.

30 years ago March 19, 1989 Writer-artist Ethel Hays dies, age 97. She created several comics features featuring flappers, including Ethel, Flapper Fanny, Marianne, and Vic and Ethel.

25 years ago March 19, 1994 French writer-artist René Deynis dies, age 63.

5 years ago March 16, 2014 Prolific British writer-editor Steve Moore dies at age 64. He was especially known for work for 2000 AD and Doctor Who Weekly.

5 years ago March 19, 2014 Writer-artist-editor Don Ensign dies of prostate cancer at age 65 or 66. The founder of Christian Comic Arts Society in 1985 has been called the “Father of Modern Christian Comics Fandom.”