In this “list” site the number 1 most offensive comic strip or comic book character of all time is … “The Yellow Kid” for caricaturing Asians. I cannot find anything authoritative in the wiki or online that supports this contention that “The Yellow Kid” is Asian. At all. Is there any basis for this claim?
10 Most Inappropriate Comic Book Characters - 1. The Yellow Kid
Wikipedia says the titular “kid” was named Mickey Dugan, which doesn’t seem particularly asian to me.
I’m pretty sure the people that churn out those “10 top…” type articles spend about ten minutes per article.
The Yellow Kid was yellow because the New York World could print in color and wanted to show it off. The Kid (the name of the strip was actually Hogan’s Alley) was originally drawn with the nightshirt ranging in color from white to blue before Outcault settled on yellow.
Here’s a look at some of the other residents of Hogan’s Alley. I’d be more concerned about the character in the top left corner than The Kid.
The blog got one thing right, however. It is generally considered to be the first comic strip.
Exactly. If Outcault had meant the Kid to be Asian, he wouldn’t have been subtle about it. He would have given the Kid slant eyes, buck teeth, and a queue.
The Green Hornet is a racist portrayal of Martian bees.
And an “L for R” accent. The “wacky dialect” the writer is talking about isn’t Asian, it’s working class New York: “dese” and “dose” and “dat.”
It’s a weird inclusion, not the least because T. Campbell is, himself, a very talented cartoonist. I’d have expected him to be a lot more familiar with the history of his field than he’s displaying here.
Firstly, how is 1894 ‘Early 19th Century’ ?
Secondly, I was always taught in school Ally Sloper was the first comic strip star. He appeared in 1867.
He tries to defend himself in the comments (they’re weird facebook comments, so you might need to be logged into FB to see them), but its pretty unconvincing IHMO.
Who knew? I always thought the kid was asian. I never heard anyone say “He was not asian” even though, given the look, name and context, it might have been worth mentioning in 100 years.
He is dressed ethnically, and not like a white cartoon child (Buster brown, max and moritz)
What was the significance of 'Yellow"? It became integral to his, then the strips and then the newspapers, and then the whole style of newspapers identity?
The yellow ink was impressive. They started regularly printing him in yellow to show it off. And the Kid was so popular the Journal’s identity became intertwined with him, so when people started criticizing the Journal for its…less than pristine journalistic standards, it was the Kid they invoked to identify the paper.
I seriously worry about the young (and I’m sure that list was written by a young guy). They’ve been taught that racism is everywhere, and so naturally enough they see it everywhere, even where it isn’t. Jerry Seinfeld said in a recent interview that he doesn’t do the college standup circuit any more. The audience takes offense at everything.
I left a reply over there based on some actual actual research. Heavy, backbreaking research consisting of walking over to my history of comics shelf and picking up a book.
This thread is more = " They’ve been taught that (PC) is everywhere, and so naturally enough they see it everywhere, even where it isn’t. "
“Jerry Seinfeld said in a recent interview that he doesn’t do the college standup circuit any more. The audience takes offense at everything.” Jerry is not offensive, his jokes are old and he has entitlement issues
The Simpsons?
There’s a “yellow peril” joke to be made here, but no way, uh-uh, count me out.
He’s been working as a cartoonist since at least 1999, so probably not all that young.
Proving once again that you fight dirty. 
Further documentation that the Kid is Irish: Here he is visiting Ireland, and his shirt says “I’ve got nerve but I’ve never took such a risk as to come to de land of me 4 fadders wit dis yaller dress on.”
