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

95 years ago November 21, 1924 Panel cartoonist Bernie Lansky is born.

90 years ago November 18, 1929 German artist Victor Schramm dies at age 64. His cartoons appeared in the Chicago Tribune.

85 years ago November 17, 1934 Snuffy Smith is introduced in Billy DeBeck’s Barney Google strip.

75 years ago November 16, 1944 The Argentine comics magazine Rico Tipo begins.

75 years ago November 16, 1944 The Russian-Serbian pioneering cartoonist Ivan Šenšin is executed by a Communist firing squad at age 47.

75 years ago November 18, 1944 Bulgarian writer-artist-producer Raiko Aleksiev is murdered at age 51 because of his political caricatures. He worked under such pseudonyms as “Fra Diavolo.”

75 years ago November 20, 1944 Marten Toonder cancels Tom Poes in the middle of a story in De Telegraaf after being told that the new editor will be a member of the SS.

70 years ago November 16, 1949 Le Crime ne Paie Pas begins, introducing the vertical strip format to French comics.

65 years ago November 17, 1954 Dan Cooper by Albert Weinberg begins.

65 years ago November 21, 1954 The Gallup Institute of Public Opinion releases survey responses that say 70% of those polled agree that part of “the blame for teenage crime can be placed on the reading of comic books.” Sigh.

60 years ago November 18, 1959 Writer, artist, and editor J. David Spurlock is born. He founds Vanguard Productions.

60 years ago November 19, 1959 Cover artist Steve Lightle is born. Included in his work is a run on DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes.

50 years ago November 15, 1969 Award-winning writer-artist Jessica Abel is born. She creates such works as Life Sucks and Drawing Words & Writing Pictures.

50 years ago November 17, 1969 Writer-artist and animator Steve Remen is born. He creates Him. (Yes.)

50 years ago November 20, 1969 Award-winning writer Greg Rucka is born. Known for such comics as Whiteout and Queen & Country, he works for Marvel and DC, writes “Crossfire” for the DVD Batman: Gotham Knight cartoon, and co-creates (with Rick Burchett) the webcomic Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether.

50 years ago November 20, 1969 Writer-artist Stephanie Gladden is born. She’s especially known for her work for Bongo and on Jingle Belle.

30 years ago November 16, 1989 Friendly Frank’s comics store manager Michael Correa is found not guilty. Appellate judges overturn Judge Foxgrover’s 1988 guilty verdict, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund continues as an organization initially formed to help what is termed “victims of First Amendment Abuse.”

30 years ago November 17, 1989 Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid opens. Its ending [spoiler!] differs from that of Hans Christian Andersen’s original, and its success kicks off what some have called the Disney Renaissance.

30 years ago November 20, 1989 Swedish writer-artist Sten Rinaldo dies at age 83.

10 years ago November 21, 2009 Publisher, store owner, distribution company staffer, and convention organizer Ken Krueger dies at age 83.