In Bologna, the cartoonist Igort and the editor Carlo Barbieri found Coconino press, a publishing house specialized in authorial comics; the firm takes its name from the Arizona county, which served as the setting of Krazy Cat’s strips.[1]
January
January 3: The final daily episode of Charles M. Schulz' Peanuts appears in print. The Sunday comics continue one month longer.[2]
January 4: The British comics magazine Buster ends its run after 40 years.
Sotto un nuovo sole (Under a new sun) by Alessandro Sisti and Corrado Mastrantuono, marks a turning point for the PKNA series, with the destruction of the evil Evronian empire by the super-heroine Xadhoom and the final sacrifice of the same, for her people's sake. In the following months, the main PKNA storylines end and many characters of the series (allies or enemies) leave the scene.[3]
After nearly half a century of publication the final episode of Charles M. Schulz's long-running and best-selling newspaper comic Peanuts is published. Schulz had announced his retirement a month earlier. The episode happens to coincide with Schulz' death, a day before the final episode is published. Both events make headlines all over the world.[4]
Edward Reiser, director of the Alpha Agency and superior of Nathan Never, is killed in the album Il patto (The deal), by Antonio Serra and Roberto De Angelis. His death (that in the following years turns out to be a setup) causes significant revelations and changes in the series, with the emerging of the new super-villain Mister Alpha.[5]
Il figlio del diavolo (The devil's son) by Mauro Boselli and Majo; first issue of the series Dampyr, with the debut of the principal characters (the vampire hunters Harlan Draka and his sidekicks Kurjak and Tesla.) [6] In the following album, La stirpe della notte (The race of the night), the vampyre Draka, nemesis (as well as father) of the hero, makes his debut.[7]
Dozens of U.S. cartoonists pay tribute to the final episode of Peanuts on the same day. Originally intended as a tribute, it becomes an unintential in memoriam since Schulz died unexpectedly earlier this year.[2]
in the Danish magazine Anders & Co., Riverside Rovers, by Paul Halas and Francisco Rodriguez Peinado; debut of Felicity Fieldmouse, mother of Morty and Ferdie and sister of Mickey Mouse.
June
Frontiere sanglante (Bloody frontier) – by Jean Giraud and Michel Rouge, final album of the Marshall Blueberry series.
July 19: The Flemish newspapers Het Laatste Nieuws and De Nieuwe Gazet change the title of their weekly children comics supplement De Plopkrant, based on the popular TV show Kabouter Plop, into De Plopsakrant, based on the theme park Plopsaland.[12]
August 1: In the Italian Disney magazine Topolino, the first chapter of the Mickey Mouse story Topolino e le cronache della frontiera (Mickey and the frontier chronicles) by Giorgio Pezzin is published. It's a long space opera starring characters of the Mickey Mouse universe.[14]
August 25: The death of Donald Duck comics artist Carl Barks makes global headlines, but predominantly in Europe and Latin America where his comics are far more beloved than in his home country.[15]
Sotto il ponte di pietra (Under the stone bridge) by Mauro Boselli and Luca Rossi; debut of two recurring characters in the Dampyr series, both living in Prague: the angel Caleb Lost and the amiable devil Nikolaus.[16]
17 October: In the Italian Disney comics magazine Topolino, the first episode of Paperino e il seguito della storia (Donald and the continuation of the history), by Luciano Bottaro is published. It's a sequel to the 1958 story Il Dottor Paperus..
Dentiblù (nickname of the two authors Stefano Bonfanti and Barbara Barbieri) publishes amateurishly Zannablù e il segreto della besciamella (Blue fang and the secret of the béchamel sauce), first album of Zannablù, an anthropomorphic animals series with demented humor.
La città gialla (The jellow city) by Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa, first album of the series Sky Doll.[14]
In Dylan Dog gigante, L’esercito del male (The army of the Evil), by Robin Wood and Giovanni Freghieri, the longest Dylan Dog story written until then (236 pages).[23]
Dutch comic artist Peter Pontiac publishes his autobiographical graphic novel Kraut, about his father's past as a Nazi collaborator and his mysterious death several decades later. The book will be updated twice, in 2005 and 2011.[24]
February 1: Bill Holroyd, British comics artist (Alf Wit the Ancient Brit, Plum McDuff, Wuzzy Wiz, Magic Is His Biz, Screwy Driver, Boy With Iron Hands, Spunky And His Spider, Jack Silver, Wandering Willie, Ding Dong Belle, Danny Longlegs, The Fighting Frasers), dies at age 80.[33]
March 10: John Henry Rouson, American painter, cartoonist and comics artist (Little Sport, Boy and Girl, Ladies Day), dies at age 91.[39]
March 14: Don Komisarow, American comics artist (The Thropp Family, assisted on Superman, Abbie an' Slats), dies at age 85.[40]
March 20: Johan Anthierens, Belgian journalist, columnist, critic, writer, publisher and comics writer (De Geheime Avonturen van Kapitein Matthias with Eddy Ryssack [41]), dies from cancer at age 62.
May 18: Denis Gifford, British comics writer and artist (Mr. Muscle, Streamline, Tiger-Man), author and historian (The British Comics Catalogue 1874-1974, Stap Me! History of the British Newspaper Strip), dies at age 72.[50]
Specific date in July unknown: Anibal Uzál, Argentine comic artist (worked on Terco Thomas, El Apache, Derek, Kabul Bengal, Cybersix, Bull Rockett, Disney comics), dies at an unknown age. [64]
August
August 8: Glenn Schmitz, American animator and comics artist (Disney comics, continued Scamp), dies at age 70.[65]
September 24: Gabrielle Vincent, Belgian painter, children's book writer, illustrator and comic artist (Ernest & Celéstine), dies at age 72. [72]
September 29: Wim Bijmoer, Dutch comics artist and illustrator (Oessoef Bontebuis), dies at age 86.[73]
October
October 3: John Worsley, British comic artist (worked on Tom of the Walls, continued PC49), dies at age 81. [74]
October 16: Ed Nofziger, American animator and comics artist (Mildred th' Zoo-Keeper's Daughter, Buenos Dias, Animalogic, Chloe, Sir Lim'rick) and writer (Hanna-Barbera comics, Disney comics), dies at age 87.[75]
November 23: Ray Burns, American comics artist and illustrator (assisted Rip Kirby and Gil Thorp), dies at age 66.[80]
November 27: Dorothy Woolfolk, American comics editor and writer (first female comics editor at DC Comics and co-creator of Kryptonite) dies at age 87.
December
December 6: Chrystabel Leighton-Porter, British model (played Jane, the title character from Norman Pett's comic strip Jane in a stage show and live-action film adaptation, also posed as her for Pett's comic strip [81]), dies at age 87. [82]
December 21: Jan Sanders, Dutch cartoonist and illustrator, dies at age 81.[83]
December 24: Ray Dirgo, American comics artist (Hanna Barbera comics), dies at age 92.[84]
December 27: Radovan Devlić, Croatian comics artist (Macchu Picchu, Strossmayer), dies at age 49 or 50.[85]
Specific date unknown
John L. Curtis, Australian illustrator and comic artist, dies at age 82 or 83. [86]
Bill Lacey, British comics artist (Mytek the Mighty, continued Blackshirt), dies at age 82 or 83.[87]
Charles Gilbert, aka Chargil, Imagil, Atgil, Mac K.B., Aagg, Belgian painter, illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 93 or 94.[88]
Juan Martínez Osete, Spanish comic artist (worked on Capitán Trueno), dies at age 78 or 79. [89]
