Here’s the latest installment of Maggie Thompson’s ongoing look at important beginnings, middles, and ends, this time for March 21-27, 2025...

390 years ago March 24, 1635 French artist Jacques Callot dies at age 43 of stomach cancer. His “Les Grandes Misères de la Guerre” is considered an early example of a text comic, and he produces Life of St. Laurentius.

115 years ago March 21, 1910 Artist Evelyn Flinders is born. Working in girls’ comics, she’s known for her strip “The Silent Three.”

115 years ago March 23, 1910 French comics creator, publisher, and photography pioneer Félix Nadar dies at age 89.

110 years ago March 21, 1915 Cory’s Kids, a Sunday strip by J. Campbell Cory, begins.

110 years ago March 22, 1915 Writer-artist Bud Sagendorf is born. The Elzie Segar assistant becomes the Popeye artist.

110 years ago March 23, 1915 Argentine cartoonist Luis Medrano is born.

105 years ago March 25, 1920 Actor Patrick Troughton is born. Among other roles, he plays the second incarnation of The Doctor on the BBC’s Doctor Who and is featured in comics stories of that character.

100 years ago March 22, 1925 Cartoonist, comedian, and musician Gerard Hoffnung is born.

100 years ago March 25, 1925 Award-winning Dutch writer Paul Biegel is born.

90 years ago March 25, 1935 Award-winning Dutch writer-artist Peter van Straaten is born. The political cartoonist created Vader en Zoon.

90 years ago March 26, 1935 Artist Eugene Zimmerman dies at age 72. He signed his work “ZIM,” worked for Puck and The Judge magazines, and was founder and first president of the American Association of Cartoonists and Caricaturists.

85 years ago March 23, 1940 The Big Chief Wahoo comic strip (still produced at this point by its creators, Allen Saunders and Elmer Woggon) introduces news photographer Steve Roper, who soon takes over the continuity.

80 years ago March 25, 1945 The aviation adventure strip Bruce Gentry by Ray Bailey begins.

70 years ago March 22, 1955 Norwegian editor-writer Kristoffer Aamot dies at age 65. He wrote the comic strip Skomakker Bekk of Tvillingene Hans (drawn by Jan Lunde).

55 years ago March 21, 1970 The Golden State Comic Mini-Con is held. It will eventually become Comic-Con International: San Diego.

55 years ago March 26, 1970 The Belgian series Sammy by Raoul Cauvin and Arthur Berckmans begins in Spirou #1667.

50 years ago March 22-24, 1975 Marvel holds a Mighty Marvel Comicon at the Hotel Commodore in New York City.

40 years ago March 24, 1985 Animator-writer Dick Kinney dies at age 68. He wrote many Disney comics scripts and co-created Fethry Duck with Al Hubbard.

40 years ago March 27, 1985 Writer-artist Don Rico dies at age 72. The freelancer started his comics career in the Golden Age working for Fox, MLJ, Fiction House, Lev Gleason, and Timely.

40 years ago March 27, 1985 German artist Hans Kossatz dies at age 84.

35 years ago March 24, 1990 Comedian and writer Ray Goulding dies of kidney failure at age 68. With Bob Elliott, he was half of the comedy team Bob and Ray, which contributed to Mad.

30 years ago March 22, 1995 Dutch artist Hein Kray dies at age 93. The political cartoonist and comic strip artist was one of the founders of the artists’ group De Drentsche Schilders.

25 years ago March 25, 2000 The Eek and Meek strip by Howie Schneider ends.

20 years ago March 26, 2005 After a hiatus of nearly nine years (with a brief intermission in a gag skit for the charity Red Nose Day in 1999), the BBC’s Doctor Who regenerates into its second incarnation with Christopher Eccleston in the role. The first episode is “Rose,” and his Doctor appears in Titan’s Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor in 2015.

15 years ago March 27, 2010 Portuguese writer-artist José Antunes dies at age 72.

15 years ago March 27, 2010 Award-winning artist and editor Dick Giordano dies at age 77 of complications during treatment for leukemia. The Charlton executive editor and DC vice president and executive editor served on The Hero Initiative.

10 years ago March 22, 2015 Writer Tom Koch dies at age 89. He wrote for Bob and Ray, went on to write for Mad and TV, and invented “43-Man Squamish” with George Woodbridge.

5 years ago March 23, 2020 Diamond temporarily suspends shipping comics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

5 years ago March 24, 2020 Teacher, award-winning Philadelphia Tribune editorial cartoonist, and Color Magazine art editor Samuel Joyner dies at age 96.

5 years ago March 24, 2020 Cuban animator and artist Juan Padrón Blanco dies at age 73. Lambiek calls him “one of the most emblematic figures in the Cuban comics and animation scene and the creator of Cuba’s most popular comic character, Elpidio Valdés.”

5 years ago March 24, 2020 Award-winning French writer-artist, editor, and publisher Albert Uderzo dies of a heart attack at age 92. He co-created Astérix the Gaul with René Goscinny.

5 years ago March 24, 2020 William Dufris dies of esophageal cancer at age 62. The voice actor co-founded AudioComics to develop audio stories from graphic novels, including Locke & Key.

5 years ago March 27, 2020 Brazilian TV host and comics artist Daniel Azulay dies of COVID-19 at age 72.