1971
September 11: Earl Ma born in Honolulu, HI.
1973
Unions characters appear for the first time as stick figures.
1976
First Unions books (various compilations of drawings and short stories) published.
1981
June: The Unions debuts as a formal comic strip.
1982
NO SO FO Super 8 movie project started but never completed (yet).
January: The Unions Membership Club (UMC), an organization for publicity and fan support of the Unions, is created.
April 1: The Big Bang, the first Unions public media campaign, is launched with the introductory sale of Unions merchandise.
June: First Unions comic book anthology, The Unions Comic Book, published.
1983
February: The Unions comic strip makes its school newspaper debut in the now-defunct
Kamiloiki Chronicle. The strip draws considerable flak from parents who complain about
Fan Stupid's "Disco Sucks" hat.
March: the followup strip again features Fan Stupid, who appears only in profile.
June 3: World Premiere of the first three minutes of NO SO FO.
November: The Unions becomes a daily comic strip.
1984
January: Further work on NO SO FO put on hold.
1985
June: Union Oil Company of California officially changes its name to Unocal Corporation. The name
change does not affect the Unions.
1988
February 4: The Unions debuts in high school newspaper Ka Punahou, where it
would be a fixture for the next fifteen months. Unions characters would also appear in illustrative
artwork.
August: Unions logo changed from original Union 76-based version to present design after Unocal rejected request to publish original logo in high school yearbook.
1989
February 18: The Unions wins cartooning award at Journalism Day, a high school journalism
conference at the University of Hawaii (Manoa).
March: I Like My Meat Raw! becomes the best selling Unions comic book of all time.
May: Unions Membership Club resurrected.
May: The Unions Phenomenon, a comprehensive history book on the Unions, published.
June 3: Earl Ma graduates from Punahou School.
August 16: First Garfield Barbeque held.
August: Earl Ma moves to Austin, TX to attend the University of Texas School of Architecture.
September: First of several attempts at getting The Unions published in The Daily Texan fails due to unrealistic and unreasonable hiring practices and staff demands.
November: First UMC Newsletter, later renamed Satellite, published.
1990
July 16: Anti-Garfield letter to the editor (in response to wire article on a Garfield Fan Club) published in
Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
December: First Unions silkscreened T-shirt design printed.
1991
June 6: A letter to the editor praising the Unions is published in The Daily Texan. The author
does not appear in the student directory and cannot be traced. It is now believed that the letter was a hoax
concocted by Texan staff to undermine the paper's own journalistic credibility.
1992
April 22: First Unions Seminar held.
1993
Comic strip anthology Fan-tasm
published.
1994
December: Earl Ma graduates from University of Texas School of Architecture.
1995
January 26: Unions Seminar videotaped for future broadcast on Austin Access Cable TV.
January 29: Earl Ma returns to Honolulu.
June 19: Unions Web Page debuts.
November 5: Unions Seminar makes the first of at least six appearances on Austin Access Cable TV.
1996
July: Just Say No to Tony George!, the latest book covering late 1995 to mid-1996, is published.
1997
May 11: Website officially acquires www.theunions.com domain name.
September 4: Rover's car on commemorative '97 Daytona 500 banner appears on page 73 of Winston Cup Scene.
September 24: Unions multicolored silkscreened T-shirt appears on MTV sitcom "Austin Stories."
November 23: Unions T-shirt reappears on new "Austin Stories" episode.
1998
December: Rover Jackson appears in Holiday 1998 issue of Sierra InterAction
magazine.
NOTE: this is an abridged and updated version of the timeline which appears in The Unions Phenomenon.