Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2000) 1

Sabrina and Salem celebrate today in the aptly named Arbor Day in issue one.

Short and sweet, Salem accidently destroys Uncle Quigley’s Bonsai tree. Sabrina admonishes the careless cat against using magic to replace the plant. She relents when they find they don’t have the funds to make amends by taking advantage of Mother Nature’s offerings.

The millennial version of Sabrina is now 12 and without powers of her own. The series compliments the animated series created by DIC. Based on the terms of the new cartoon, Sabrina has been returned to tweenie status, but actually has a good time being 12 again.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2000) 1

Sabrina originally appeared in Archie’s Madhouse (1959) issue 22. Like Harry Potter’s mud-bloods, she is part muggle having been born of an ordinary mother and warlock.

While having both parents, she lives with her aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, who are both witches. The family pet is Salem Saberhagen, a furry feline who was once a witch.

Sabrina was a mainstay of Archie’s TV Laugh-Out that ran 106 issues from 1969 to 1985. She was given her own book in 1971, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, that ran 77 issues from 1971 to 1983.

Another self-titled series would be over a decade in the making. Even then it acted as a companion piece to the live-action Sabrina television series. The comic companion was 32 issues long.

Archie Comics retooled the title in 2000 with a new number one. Simply called Sabrina, this series ran 37 issues with an issue 38 published in 2002. The transition issue transformed her into a teenage witch once again going until issue 57.

Sabrina received another makeover and the title became a manga clone until the book finally ended in 2009 with issue 104.

She was updated once again in 2014 with the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The book became more mature with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at the helm, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Rosemary’s Baby.

Arbor Day translates to Tree Day from its Latin origins. The holiday celebrates the planting, upkeep and preservation of trees.

The celebration harkens back to Nebraska City in the early 1870s. James Sterling Morton, a journalist, and wife, Caroline, purchased 160 acres and planted a variety of trees and shrubs in a primarily flat and desolate plain.

Morton became editor of the state’s first newspaper, Nebraska City News, which proved the perfect platform for him to spread his knowledge of trees and to stress their ecological importance to the state. Readers received the word and were moved. Morton was also appointed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture.

On Jan. 7, 1872, Morton proposed a day that would encourage all Nebraskans to plant trees in their communities. The event was originally entitled Sylvan Day in reference to forest trees. Morton later convinced them to change it to Arbor day.

Today, nearly 50 countries celebrate Arbor Day.