Do You Know About The First Comic Strip?

Created by Richard Felton Outcault, the comic strip named Hogan's Alley was considered the first successful comic strip to be published. It was published in New York World in 1895 and soon the main character became most well known as "The Yellow Kid." Outcault worked at New York World for a good amount of time before moving to The New York Journal, where it was just as successful. As you can tell, "The Yellow Kid" was quite popular within New York City. The comic itself talked about class and racial tensions in the new urban society in which a group of New York City kids acted out the scenes in mischievous manners, and it seemed to be quite the hit with the community. Outcault was able to mock all the classes in a safe environment while poking fun and still keeping all the characters based on caucasians - knowing that he probably shouldn't push the bar too far. "The Yellow Kid" inspired all types of art and theatre over the course of time and Americans from all over the country knew about this comic strip. This comic strip was popular because of Outcault's satiric words and drawings that portrayed that time perfectly - never leaving out the bad things that were going on in society with the upper classes.  Here is an example of Outcault's famous "Yellow Kid."

Wood, Mary. "The Yellow Kid on the Paper Stage: Introduction." The Yellow Kid on the Paper Stage:
            Introduction. University of Virgina, 2009. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.
           <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma04/wood/ykid/intro.htm>.