On this day in 1934, the comic strip 'Li’l Abner, created by cartoonist Al Capp, made its debut, first appearing in just eight newspapers before exploding into a cultural phenomenon.

Born Alfred Gerald Caplin (1909–1979) in New Haven, Connecticut, Capp lost his left leg in a trolley accident at the age of nine. The adversity didn’t defeat him, it defined him. He poured his wit and grit into cartooning, drawing inspiration from illustrators like Phil May and Aubrey Beardsley. Early gigs included Colonel Gilfeather and Joe Palooka, but Capp’s heart was in satire, and Dogpatch, Kentucky, was his playground.

With a cast led by the lovable yokel Li’l Abner and his devoted Daisy Mae, Capp used humor to shine a light on society. His strip spoofed everything from politics to pop culture, poking fun with fearless flair. He famously quipped, “The public is like a piano. You just have to know what keys to poke.”

The strip’s influence spread far beyond the funny pages, spawning films, a hit Broadway musical, and decades of imitators. It was pure Americana...raucous, irreverent, and wildly beloved.

A complex and outspoken thinker, Capp once declared, “Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work.” He counseled World War II amputees and never shied from controversy. “Abstract Art,” he said, “is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.”

He retired his strip in 1977. Two years later, he was gone—but the boldness of his voice still echoes. His fearless satire earned comparisons to Mark Twain and Voltaire. The ultimate endorsement came from Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, who once said, “I think that Capp may possibly be the best writer in the world today.”