January 2: Professor Pi by Dutch comics artist Bob van den Born, which already ran in some foreign newspapers, is published in a Dutch newspaper for the first time, namely Het Parool.[1]
January 6: In Spirou the Tif et Tondu story Tif et Tondu contre la Main Blanche (written by Maurice Rosy and drawn by Will) starts running, which marks the debut of recurring and iconic villain Mr. Choc.[2]
January 8: With the death of cartoonist Ed Payne, the long-running newspaper comic Billy the Boy Artist comes to a close after having been in production for 56 years straight.[3]
March 31: The first episode of Guy Bara's gag comic Max L'Explorateur is published.[5]
The first issue of the American comics magazine Extra is published. Five issues will be published before its eventual cancellation in November/December.
April 1: Pieter J. Kuhn's Kapitein Rob is discontinued in Het Parool after nine and a half years of an uninterrupted run. The artist decides to quit, but a year later his series will be relaunched.[6]
April 4: Piet Wijn's aviation comic Frank, De Vliegende Hollander starts in Het Parool as a replacement for Kapitein Rob.[7][6]
The first issue of the American comics magazine M.D. by EC Comics is published. It will only last until December.
First issue of the Italian magazine Miciolino.
May
Il Segreto del Cinese (The chinaman’s secret), last adventure of Dick Fulmine (Selene).[8]
With issue #24, Mad converts its format from an EC Comics comic book to a magazine. In doing so, it inadvertently escapes the strictures of the Comics Code and becomes one of the great success stories of 20th-century magazine publishing.
June 10: In Topolino the first chapter of The Blot's Double Mystery, by Guido Martina and Romano Scarpa is published. In this story, exceptionally crude and disquieting for the Disney's standards, the Phantom Blot returns fifteen years after his first creation.[10]
June 27: With Mickey Mouse and Li'l Davy by Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson, the Davy Crockett miniseries is spoofed. It's also Gottfredson's final longer adventure comic, who later realizes only self-conclusive strips.
In the first issue of the Italian magazine Volpetto (Editoriale Metro),Nonna Abelarda makes her debut with the story La Banda La Bott, by Giovan Battista Carpi.
August 28: In Albi d’oro, Paperino e l’uomo del west (Donald Duck and the westerner), by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi “Holes in the hands”, the prodigal brother of Uncle Scrooge makes his first and only appearance.
The first episode of René Goscinny and Sempé's Le Petit Nicolas is serialized, still in comic strip format. It will run in this format up until 20 May 1956. In 1959 the series returns as illustrated short stories. [13]
January 7: Ed Payne, American comics artist (Billy the Boy Artist, Professor O. Howe Wise and Professor I.B. Schmart), dies at age 84.[3]
January 18: George Morrow, British cartoonist, illustrator and comics artist (published in Punch), dies at age 85.[33]
February
February 21: William de la Torre, Mexican comics artist (Pedrito), dies at age 39.[34]
March
March 22: Kristoffer Aamot, Norwegian journalist, film director, politician and comics writer (Skomakker Bekk of Tvillingene Hans), dies at age 65.[35][36]
Specific date unknown: Ellison Hoover, American cartoonist and comics artist (Mr. and Mrs.), dies at age 66 or 67.[37]
April
April 12: Louis Maîtrejean, French illustrator and comics artist (Linette et son Poilu), dies at age 73.[38]
April 21: Knut Stangenberg, Swedish comics artist (Fridolf Celinder), dies at age 83.[39]
August
August 5: André Vlaanderen, Dutch comics artist (advertising comic books for the Gazelle bicycle factory), dies at age 73.[40]
August 25: Kitazawa Rakuten, Japanese manga artist (Tagosaku and Mokube's Sightseeing in Tokyo, The Failures of Kidoro Haikara, Chame and Dekobo, Nukesaku Teino, Tonda Haneko Jo, founder of the magazines Tokyo Puck and Rakuten Puck), dies at age 82.[41]
September 23: Katharine P. Rice, American illustrator and comics artist (Flora Flirt), dies at age 76.[43]
October
October 6: Jean Doisy, Belgian journalist and publisher (chief editor of Spirou, 1938-1955), dies at age 55 from throat cancer.[44]
Specific date unknown: Jon L. Blummer, aka Jon Elby, aka Don Shelby, American illustrator and comics artist (Hop Harrigan, Fighting Yank, Ultra-Man, Captain X of the RAF, Little Boy Blue, The Sea Hound, Adventures Into the Unknown, Forbidden Worlds, comics based on The Lone Ranger), dies at age 51.[45]
November
November 2: Carl Storch, Austrian-Hungarian illustrator and comics artist (Maus und Molli, Puck und Muck), dies at age 87.[46]
November 12: Otto Nückel, German painter, graphic designer, illustrator and comics artist (Schicksal (Destiny)), dies at age 67.
November 30: Foxo Reardon, American cartoonist and comics artist (Bozo), dies at age 50 from cancer.[47]
December
December 16: Ami Hauhio, Finnish comics artist (Koltan Perintö, Maan mies Marsissa), dies at age 43.[48]
December 20: Emilio Cortinas, Uruguayan comics artist (Vito Nervio, Homero, El Muchacho Viajero), dies at age 39 from cancer.[49]
Erich F.T. Schenk, German-American painter, children's book illustrator, animator and comics artist (Sleeping' Lena, Silas Skinflint, Blowaway), dies at age 53 or 54.[52]
^Irvine, Alex (2010). "1950s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 77. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Once Superman had a dog, Batman got one too, in "Ace, the Bat-Hound!" In the story by writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff, Batman and Robin found a German Shepherd called Ace.
