Which was the most recent "universally" known comic character?

[njtt]

@Chronos

I could get behind that. I wouldn’t say that Tom Brady nor Wolverine is “universal”, though I would say that both Babe Ruth and Superman are. I think that the bare minimum definition I’d accept for “universal” would be “recognized by 50% of Americans”, or possibly “50% of the developed world” (yes, I know that that ignores the rest of the world, but we’re talking universal in the context of a culture, here), and I’d be much more inclined to set the bar at 90%.

You really think that 50% of the developed world knows who Babe Ruth was, do you? :rolleyes: Very little of the developed (or undeveloped) world outside of America gives a shit about baseball.

[Spoke]

Speaking of Disney, we should perhaps add Uncle Scrooge McDuck to the list of widely recognized comic book characters. He was a creation of comic books (not movies or shorts), making his first appearance in Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #178.

Uncle Scrooge comics are still very popular in Europe.