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THE COMIC STRIP PROJECT
COMIC STRIPS – A CAPSULE HISTORY
The earliest comic strips grew out of several sources –gag cartoons (often with multiple panels) in such magazines as Judge, Puck, and Life; newspaper drawings; and editorial cartoons. Rudolphe Topffler of Switzerland and Wilhelm Busch of Germany (“Max und Moritz”) are often cited as major influences on the multi-panel cartoon. As early as 1895, Jimmy Swinnerton was drawing bears and tigers as fillers on the pages of the San Francisco Examiner.
“What separated the early American illustrated humor that appeared in Puck, Life, and Judge from the comic strip,” wrote Gordon, “was the lack of a continuing character or cast of characters, the regular use of word balloons, a format that required weekly or daily appearances by these characters in a named strip, and a place in a mass circulated medium, which made the form and characters consumer staples.” (Gordon, p.24)
On Sunday morning May 5, 1895, newspaper artist Richard F. Outcault captured the attention of the readers of the New York World with his drawing of a strange bald-headed boy in an alley, wearing a nightshirt. The drawing was titled “The Circus in Hogan’s Alley.” Soon the nightshirt became a trademark yellow. This was the beginning of a weekly color feature known as “the Yellow Kid,” the source for the term “yellow journalism.”
The development of the comic strip as we know it today involved at least four transitions:
From the humorous drawing to the single panel gag cartoon
From the single panel cartoon to the multi-panel strip
From the captioned strip to the word balloons
From the isolated gag to the ongoing story
Bud Fisher is often credited with developing the first true daily comic strip with his “ Mr. A. Mutt”, which appeared in 1907 in the San Francisco Chronicle. The following year his feature became the familiar “Mutt and Jeff”, running in the San Francisco Examiner.
Among the pioneers of the comic strip in the early years of the 20th Century were
R. F. Outcault (“The Yellow Kid”, “Buster Brown”)
Frederick Burr Opper (“Happy Hooligan”)
Jimmy Swinnerton (“Little Jimmy”)
Rudolph Dirks (“The Katzenjammer Kids”)
Gus Mager (“Sherlocko the Monk”)
F.M. Follett (“The Kid”, “The Merry Marceline”)
Winsor McCay (“Little Nemo”)
H.M. Howarth (“Lulu and Leander”)
Charles W. Kahles (“Hairbreadth Harry”)
Other prolific early cartoonists included Hugh Doyle, F.R.Leet, Ferd G. Long, E.W.Gale, Hy Gage, A.D. Condo, Louis Wain, H.B. Martin, and A.Y. Hambleton.
1895 – The Yellow Kid (appearance)
1897 – The Katzenjammer Kids
1900 – Happy Hooligan
1902 – Buster Brown
1903 – A. Piker Clerk
1904 – Little Jimmy
1905 – Little Nemo in Slumberland
1906 – Hairbreadth Harry
1907 – Mr. A. Mutt (Mutt and Jeff)
The following decade saw numerous attempts at copying the success of certain features, outright copying of features, attracting cartoonists from one paper to another, and creating dozens of daily strips to draw readers. The rivalry between newspaper owners William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer fueled the development of new features, especially comics.
Comics historians typically break up the development of comic strips by decades-
1910’s – the early years – favorites which continued for several years (“Bringing Up Father”, “The Gumps”, “Krazy Kat”, “Polly and her Pals”)
1911 – Positive Polly (Polly and her Pals)
1913 – Bringing Up Father, Krazy Kat
1915 – Toonerville Folks
1917 – The Gumps
1918 – Gasoline Alley
1919 – Barney Google, Harold Teen, Thimble Theatre
1920’s – the “roaring twenties” – comics which mirrored the 20’s culture (“Merely Margie”, “Flapper Fanny”)
1920 - Winnie Winkle
1921 – Minute Movies, Tillie the Toiler
1922 - Smitty
1923 – Moon Mullins, Skippy
1924 – Little Orphan Annie, Wash Tubbs, Boots and her Buddies
1925 – Ella Cinders
1927 – Connie
1928 – Tim Tyler’s Luck, Joe Palooka
1929 – Tarzan, Buck Rogers
1930’s – the “adventurous decade” (a term coined by Ron Goulart in his book by that title) (“Flash Gordon”, “Dick Tracy”, “Terry and the Pirates”)
By the late 1930’s the development of the comic book was interwoven with the history of the comic strip.
1930 – Blondie, Mickey Mouse, Scorchy Smith
1931 – Dick Tracy
1933 – Smilin’ Jack, Dickie Dare, Brick Bradford, Alley Oop
1934 – Flash Gordon, Li’l Abner, Secret Agent X-9, Terry and the Pirates,
Mandrake, Don Winslow of the Navy
1935 – Oaky Doaks, Smokey Stover
1936 – The Phantom
1937 – Prince Valiant, Mickey Finn
1938 – Charlie Chan, Red Ryder
1940’s – the war years and after – several comics characters joined the war effort; afterwards, “Sad Sack”, “Private Breger”, and “Hubert” made successful transitions to civilian life.
1940 – Brenda Starr
1943 – Buz Sawyer, Kerry Drake
1944 – Johnny Hazard
1946 – Rip Kirby
1947 – Steve Canyon
1948 – Rex Morgan
1950’s – the post-war suburban years; “the frenzied fifties” (Goulart) (“Dennis the Menace”, “Hi and Lois”, “Morty Meekle”)
1960’s – the transition years; “a decade of division, protest, and violence” (Goulart) (“Tales of the Green Beret”, “The Wizard of Id”, “Eek and Meek”)
1970’s – the “new breed” strips (“Doonesbury”, “Cathy”, “Quincy”, “Garfield”)
1980’s and 1990’s – the modern period (“Dilbert”, “Kudzu”, “Calvin and Hobbes”)
Ref.
Gordon, Ian, Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, Smithsonian Institute Press, 1998.
Web sites with comics history-
Prepared by Paul Leiffer and Hames Ware
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