Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for December 20-26, 2024...

215 years ago December 24, 1809 A scout who becomes a pop culture favorite, Kit Carson, is born. Dime novels help make him a celebrity of fiction, and his career as such a character includes a seven-issue comics series from Avon.

125 years ago December 22, 1899 Writer-artist Virginia Clark is born. Also known as Virginia Huget, she begins working on comic strips starting in 1926 and continues Percy Crosby’s Skippy and Don Flowers’ Oh Diana!

125 years ago December 25, 1899 Writer-artist Les Turner is born. He’s especially known for his work on the Captain Easy newspaper strip.

115 years ago December 23, 1909 George Herriman’s Gooseberry Sprig strip begins. It introduces his Coconino County setting.

110 years ago December 20, 1914 Animator and artist Chuck McKimson is born.

110 years ago December 26, 1914 The British comics magazine Funny Wonder begins. (It’s a new version of an earlier magazine with the same name.)

105 years ago December 22, 1919 Mexican artist Francisco Flores Montes is born. Lambiek calls him “one of the classic Mexican comic artists.”

95 years ago December 20, 1929 Annibelle by Dorothy Urfer begins.

95 years ago December 26, 1929 Award-winning British editorial cartoonist and Punch artist Roy Raymonde is born.

85 years ago December 24, 1939 Dutch writer-artist Kees Sparreboom is born.

80 years ago December 22, 1944 British writer-artist Louis Briault dies at age 59. Among his work was “The Comical Capers of Billie Reeves, the Scream of the Screen,” an early comic featuring the sort of comedies Hollywood was making.

80 years ago December 24, 1944 Marc Sleen begins De Avonturen van Neus and Piet Fluwijn.

75 years ago December 20, 1949 Writer-editor and researcher James Van Hise is born.

70 years ago December 20, 1954 Artist and animator Dave Simons is born. He’s known especially for his work on comics Conan, Ghost Rider, Red Sonja, and Forgotten Realms as well as for his storyboard and games art.

70 years ago December 22, 1954 “The Calculus Affair” begins in Tintin.

70 years ago December 23, 1954 The letterer and colorist known for his work on The ’Nam, Phil Felix, is born.

65 years ago December 21, 1959 Comics fan and writer-artist Glen Johnson is born.

65 years ago December 24, 1959 Boule et Bill begins by Jean Roba and Maurice Rosy.

60 years ago December 23, 1964 Artist Jeff Whiting is born.

55 years ago December 25, 1969 Isabelle by Yvan Delporte, André Franquin, Raymond Macherot, and Willy Maltaite begins.

50 years ago December 22, 1974 Artist Adrian Dingle dies at age 63. He was co-founder (with René Kulbach) of Hillborough Studio, for which he created Nelvana of the Northern Lights.

50 years ago December 26, 1974 Everett “Busy” Arnold dies at age 75. The pioneering comics publisher’s early releases included work from the Eisner & Iger studio, and he eventually formed Quality Comics.

45 years ago December 20, 1979 Award-winning British artist Leslie Illingworth dies of a stroke at age 77. He worked for Punch and The Daily Mail, was co-founder of the British Cartoonists’ Association, and was its first president.

25 years ago December 23, 1999 Writer Captain Roscoe Fawcett dies at age 86. The son of “Captain Billy” Fawcett, he wrote the cartoon panel Screen Oddities and became vice president and circulation manager for Fawcett Publications.

25 years ago December 24, 1999 British comics artist Vic Neill dies at age 58.

20 years ago December 22, 2004 Dutch artist and head of Studio Avan Loek van Delden dies at age 86.

20 years ago December 22, 2004 Dutch animator, artist, and teacher Ben van Voorn dies at age 77.

20 years ago December 26, 2004 French artist Pierre Dupuis dies at age 75.

20 years ago December 26, 2004 The adventure strip Steve Roper and Mike Nomad comes to an end. It began in 1936 as a gag strip by Elmer Woggon and Allen Saunders titled The Great Gusto; changes ensued.

5 years ago December 20, 2019 Writer-artist Gerry Alanguilan dies at age 51. He worked for Marvel, DC, and other publishers, created the Elmer comic book, and founded The Komiks Museum in San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines. He is credited with originating the term “Komikero,”

5 years ago December 24, 2019 Prolific British comics letterer Ellie deVille dies of pancreatic cancer at age 72.

5 years ago December 25, 2019 Writer and voice artist Patricia Alice Albrecht dies at age 66.

5 years ago December 25, 2019 Writer and producer Lee Mendelson dies of lung cancer and congestive heart failure at age 86. The award-winning executive producer of A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts specials was founder of Lee Mendelson Film Productions.