Happy National Comics Day!
I'm two days late, but Jan. 30 was National Comics Day in Brazil. Why doesn't the US have such a holiday? I first learned about the holiday in the Warren Ellis forum:

"It's recognized because in the 30th of January of 1869 (before The Yellow Kid) the first chapter of As Aventuras de Nho Quim (The Adventures of No Quim), by Ângelo Agostini, was published in the brazilian newspaper 'Vida Fluminense'. The stories had no balloons or captions, much like the Prince Valiant strips."

You can learn more online, although it's in Portuguese.