Carl Thomas Anderson was sixty-seven years old when his comic strip series Henry was first published in the Saturday Evening Post magazine in 1932. The feature caught the eye of William Randolph Hearst, who wanted the strip for his King Features Syndicate. In 1934, Henry moved to the newspapers.

Due to crippling arthritis, Anderson turned his strip over to his assistants Don Trachte (Sundays) and John Liney (dailies) in 1942. When Trachte enlisted, Liney took on both daily and Sunday duties until Trachte returned in 1945. Carl Anderson died in 1948.

John Liney continued working on the dailies until he retired in 1979. He was succeeded by Jack Tippit (1979-1983) and Dick Hodgins, Jr. (1983-1995). Don Trachte continued doing the Sunday strips until the feature ended its run in 2005, ten years after the daily strip was retired.

Dell comics published 61 issues of Henry comic books between 1946 and 1961. The comic books diverged from the strip in that Henry spoke, whereas the strip was primarily pantomime with Henry being mute. Henry also had a voice in his appearance with Betty Boop in an animated cartoon by the Fleischer Studios that was produced in 1935.