Comics Centennial for 'LA Times'

By: Dave Astor The Los Angeles Times has just reached its 100th anniversary of publishing comics.

That's the word from Dave Strickler, author of "Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index."

Strickler, who wrote a congratulatory letter to the Times, said the newspaper published its first continuing comic on Aug. 21, 1904. That feature -- Richard Outcault's "Buster Brown" -- was followed by more than 940 other strips and panels.

The California-based Strickler (http://www.comicsaccess.com) compiled his mid-1990s book based on information from E&P's annual syndicate directory.