Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for January 22-28, 2021...

120 years ago January 26, 1901 Napoleon and Uncle Elby creator Clifford McBride is born.

115 years ago January 22, 1906 Writer Robert E. Howard is born. He creates Conan the Barbarian and King Kull.

115 years ago January 24, 1906 Animator, composer, and director Wilfred Jackson is born. Known for his work for Walt Disney, he helps develop the system that adds sound to “Steamboat Willie” and works on award-winning Disney projects.

100 years ago January 25, 1921 Rossum’s Universal Robots introduces the word “robot” to the world, when the play R.U.R. by Karl Čapek has its premiere.

95 years ago January 24, 1926 Award-winning magazine cartoonist John Gallagher is born.

95 years ago January 25, 1926 Artist Robert J. Clarke is born. He is known for his commercial work, including hundreds of contributions to Mad.

90 years ago January 22, 1931 Dutch writer-artist Peter Age Veldheer is born. He draws for the Bell Studios.

90 years ago January 24, 1931 Belgian writer-artist Paul Deliège is born. The Spirou contributor is known for his work on such characters as Bobo and Les Krostons.

90 years ago January 25, 1931 Pablo Gomez is born. The award-winning movie scripter, director, and comics writer founds the United Komiks company P.S.G. Publishing House.

85 years ago January 26, 1936 Artist Sal Buscema is born. He’s especially known for his work for Marvel on such projects as Captain America and The Incredible Hulk.

75 years ago January 22, 1946 Game designer Steve Perrin is born. He co-creates RuneQuest (with Steve Henderson, Warren James, and Ray Turney), is a founding member of The Society for Creative Anachronism, and adapts Elfquest for game use.

75 years ago January 23, 1946 The Italian magazine Albi dell’intrepido begins from Editrice Universo.

70 years ago January 26, 1951 Retailer, collector, and historian Gary Colabuono is born. He founds Chicago’s Moondog’s comics store chain.

70 years ago January 28, 1951 Award-winning letterer and logo designer Todd Klein is born. He’s known especially for his work on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series.

65 years ago January 22, 1956 Ward Greene dies of pulmonary edema at age 63. The writer, editor, and King Features Syndicate general manager wrote the Rip Kirby strip. He also wrote “Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog”: the basis for Lady and the Tramp.

65 years ago January 27, 1956 Artist Tom Vincent is born. He’s best known for his work for Marvel.

60 years ago January 25, 1961 Walt Disney’s animated adaptation of a Dodie Smith novel opens. One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a box office hit and cuts costs by using photocopying as one of its animation devices.

60 years ago January 25, 1961 British comics magazine The Victor begins.

55 years ago January 22, 1966 Richard D. Irving is born. He writes Dartman and Fast Food Fury.

55 years ago January 22, 1966 The British comic book Lady Penelope begins.

50 years ago January 27, 1971 Writer-artist E. Simms Campbell dies at age 65. He created the Cuties newspaper feature and was considered to be the first African-American cartoonist to be published in national slick magazines. He was a regular Esquire contributor and created its mascot, Esky.

50 years ago January 28, 1971 The Comics Code is changed to allow classic vampires, ghouls, and werewolves in comics that carry its seal.

45 years ago January 22, 1976 Golden Age writer-artist Fletcher Hanks dies of hypothermia at age 88. The Golden Age writer-artist worked in the Eisner & Iger studio and created Stardust the Super Wizard, Tabu, and Fantomah (Mystery Woman of the Jungle).

35 years ago January 23, 1986 Animator and artist Frank Grundeen dies at age 74. He was known for his work on Disney comics and continued the Donald Duck newspaper strip after death of Al Taliaferro.

35 years ago January 28, 1986 Allen Saunders dies at age 86. He wrote the newspaper strips Big Chief Wahoo (which became Steve Roper), Mary Worth, and Kerry Drake.

30 years ago January 24, 1991 Dutch artist J.H. Koeleman Jr. dies at age 64.

25 years ago January 22, 1996 Belgian artist Arthur Piroton dies at age 64. He worked in the Dupuis art studios on such series as Michel et Thierry and Jess Long.

25 years ago January 28, 1996 Artist, illustrator, educator, and Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth dies at age 84.

25 years ago January 28, 1996 Writer Jerry Siegel dies at age 81. Though he wrote many comics and created other characters, he’s best known for co-creating Superman with artist Joe Shuster.

20 years ago January 23, 2001 Writer-artist Fred Ray dies at age 80. He was especially known for his Golden Age Superman cover art and for drawing the adventures of DC’s Tomahawk.

15 years ago January 22, 2006 Albert Morse (lawyer for underground cartoonists, photographer, and self-publisher of Morse’s Funnies) dies of kidney disease at age 67.

15 years ago January 30, 2006 DC artist Seth Fisher dies at age 33 in a fall from a roof.

10 years ago January 28, 2011 Italian teacher and artist Gaspare de Fiore dies at age 84.

5 years ago January 26, 2016 British cartoonist and Punch contributor Bernard Cookson dies of cancer at age 79.