The first regular comic strip. It was created by Richard F. Outcault for the "New York World" in 1895. It was originally just a large illustration with a few captions scattered here and there -- it soon evolved into a full-page color cartoon. Under the title "Hogan's Alley," the cartoons always featured New York City tenement dwellers doing various funny things. Eventually, a star emerged -- a bald-headed kid with big ears, wearing a bright yellow nightshirt, on which his dialogue was often written. Though he was sometimes called "Mickey Dugan," everyone came to know him as "the Yellow Kid."

In 1896, William Randolph Hearst, arch-rival of "New York World" publisher Joseph Pulitzer, raided the "World"'s cartooning staff and lured Outcault away. Outcault continued the cartoon for Hearst's papers and Pulitzer sued. The judge decided that Outcault could draw his comic strip for anyone, but the name "Hogan's Alley" belonged to Pulitzer, who promptly grabbed a cartoonist named George Luks to draw Hogan's Alley. Meanwhile, Outcault was drawing his cartoon, now called "McFadden's Row of Flats" for Hearst's "New York Journal."

Bad blood between Hearst and Pulitzer continued, and like that, the infamous Hearst/Pulitzer circulation war was on. From that sprang everything from the modern American comics industry to the term "yellow journalism," but eventually, both papers just started calling the strip "The Yellow Kid." The Kid appeared on everything from gum and postcards to baby clothes and household appliances. Eventually, Outcault returned to Pulitzer, where he drew a number of other comics, most notably "Buster Brown."

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.