# Cartooning Around **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252 "2000-02-14T17:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/1 "2000-02-14T17:02:00Z")
Ok, who came first? Charles Schulz implied that Popeye was the first comic strip character. Is this correct? So many come to mind, but I don’t know the chronology. What was the first comic strip (funnies) to appear in the papers? (Now, I’m not talking about political cartoons here. I suppose I should specify “serial” cartoon characters. I know, many such characters who found entered into the breakfast food advertising business have since been bumped off by a cereal killer ha-ha!) (Maybe “Cartooniverse” knows this one?) ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/2 "2000-02-14T17:05:00Z")
The first recurring cartoon character in the newspapers was the Yellow Kid. I can’t remember the newspaper off hand but I’m sure someone will be along with that info shortly. * * * Live a Lush Life Da Chef ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/3 "2000-02-14T17:20:00Z")
Richard Felton Outcault’s “The Yellow Kid” premiered in Truth Magazine in 1895 and was picked up by The New York World newspaper the following year to become the first “successful” newspaper strip in US history. A side note, Outcault’s patron was none other than Thomas Alva Edison. ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/4 "2000-02-14T17:23:00Z")
Lots of info at this site: [www.neponset.com/yellowkid/history.htm](http://www.neponset.com/yellowkid/history.htm) * * * Then we’ll turn our tommy guns on the screaming ravaged nuns and the peoples voice will be the only sound. -P. Sky ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/5 "2000-02-14T17:23:00Z")
Yeah, but “The Yellow Kid” wasn’t a STRIP cartoon. Which one WAS the first? “The Katzenjammer Kids” ? “Buster Brown” ? “Foxy Grandpa” ? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/6 "2000-02-14T17:24:00Z")
The first daily comic strip, however, was Mutt and Jeff. (Some mention A. Piker Clerk, but it was sporadic, while M&J was daily from the start). * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/7 "2000-02-14T17:37:00Z")
How about calling The Yellow Kid the first “regular newspaper cartoon”? 'cause I agree it wasn’t a strip. * * * Then we’ll turn our tommy guns on the screaming ravaged nuns and the peoples voice will be the only sound. -P. Sky ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/8 "2000-02-14T17:51:00Z")
re: strip. Good point. It’s easy to overlook the literal meaning of the word. I wouldn’t hesitate to call Dennis the Menace or The Far Side strips, although it isn’t technically correct. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/9 "2000-02-14T17:53:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Ukulele Ike: > **Yeah, but “The Yellow Kid” wasn’t a STRIP cartoon.** How do you define a “strip cartoon”? (No wise cracks , please.) Do you mean, like Ziggy for example, is just one “cell” as opposed to Peanuts being displayed in a row (strip) of “cells”? ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/10 "2000-02-15T06:02:00Z")
The Far Side, Dennis, Family Circus, Ziggy, etc., are all referred to as ‘Panel’ cartoons, and are usually square. The dialog can also be either within the panel (balloons) or below (captioned). * * * Then we’ll turn our tommy guns on the screaming ravaged nuns and the peoples voice will be the only sound. -P. Sky ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/11 "2000-02-15T06:20:00Z")
United Media Comics clearly differentiates between Comic “Strips” and Comic “Panels”. See [http://www.uexpress.com/ups/comics/index.html](http://www.uexpress.com/ups/comics/index.html) * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/12 "2000-02-14T21:47:00Z")
The Yellow Kid did appear in strips, later, and one of his strips is often stated to be the first strip with a regular character. As the result of a contract war, the Kid later moved from the _World_ to the _Journal._ The actual title of the strip was “Hogan’s Alley”, and another artist kept doing it for the _World,_ as it seemed that under the law of the time, the _World,_ owned only the title. In the _Journal,_ the Kid moved to “McFadden’s Flats.” A similar contract war a few years later produced the schism between “The Katzenjammer Kids” (original title) and “The Captain and the Kids” (original artist), both of which were still going strong when I was a child. I can’t imagine what Schultz could have meant by calling “Popeye” first (if he did). Popeye wasn’t the original star of “Thimble Theater”, “Thimble Theater” wasn’t the first strip by Segar, and Segar wasn’t even remotely the first cartoonist. I have a small page on the Kid at [http://members.tripod.com/Orpheus\_club\_Newark/YellowKid.html](http://members.tripod.com/Orpheus_club_Newark/YellowKid.html) * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartooning-around/7252/13 "2000-02-15T16:50:00Z")
Schulz probably meant Popeye was the first hugely successful newspaper strip character - he was the first newspaper strip character to jump to the movies (characters like Mickey Mouse and Superman had their start in movies and in magazines, and became newspaper strips later), and the first newspaper strip to be heavily merchandised.