![]() ![]() Outcault was an excellent draftsman, his artwork was superior to all the other comic artists of the day, with, perhaps, the sole exception of the great Winsor McCay. The strip was beautifully drawn, and the characters were spot on. Each weekly panel took the form of letters written by Mose to his Mammy, back home in Cottonville Ga. ![]() It featured America’s first black comic hero, Pore Lil Mose, a seven year old black boy, living in New York City with: a cat, a monkey, a dog, and a bear named, Billy. No longer limited to the New York area, as the Yellow Kid had been, Buster’s fame was international.Ī fter the Yellow Kid, Outcault created and drew a panel comic strip called “Pore Lil Mose” for the next two years. Outcault, once again, following the Yellow Kid, and even more successful. W ho knew that Buster Brown was once a hugely popular comic strip, the worlds first comic mega hit! It was the work of R. "Froggy the Gremlin", played by a vinyl squeeze toy, appeared in a blast of talcum powder smoke each week, and wiggled, atop a grandfather’s clock, threatening to “plunk his magic twanger” at "Squeaky" the mouse, who was actually a live hamster, held captive, from the neck down, in a human body suit, and "Midnight", a really creepy dead black cat, who was more representative of taxidermy than puppetry. It featured a fat jovial host, "Smilin’ Ed McConnell" who was replaced, after he died by "Andy (less than) Divine". Named after its sponsor, the show had nothing to do with Buster Brown, other than the fact that it was paid for by his shoes. A part from living in the shoes of a million children, there was an awful TV show, a leftover from radio, called "Buster Brown’s Gang". I imagine that his daughter was thrilled hearing about the role her namesake, Buster’s best friend Mary Jane, played in Buster Brown’s antics! Buster best (human) friend, Mary Jane. Outcault published Tige - His Story in 1905, dedicating the book to his children. The traditional story book format is more suited to be read to younger children, while still delighting them with charming illustrations of the popular characters, which are interspersed throughout the volume. Since Tige - His Story, is written entirely from the pet’s view, the book treats readers to a different perspective on the duo’s escapades, beginning with the day Buster and Tige met. In the weekly cartoon installments, Tige the pet bull dog, who is Buster’s faithful companion, offers his comments and thoughts for the benefit of the reader (since the comic strip characters cannot understand him or any of the other animals, that occasionally pop up in the stories.) It is another testimony to the popularity of the comic strip that the name of the main character, Buster Brown, can be left out of the title entirely and Outcault could still count on the audience to recognize the book as related to the Buster Brown series. Tige suffering through one of Buster's pranks that even scared the boy himself. Nevertheless, the series was hugely successful, so much so, that the characters were used to market products from food and cigars to clothing and shoes. The adventures of Buster Brown, the mischievous son of wealthy, urban parents, were considered subversive by some and conservative by others. U67 T5 1905Īfter the success of Hogan Alley, that ran in the New York World for a little over a year in the mid-1890s, Outcault created Buster Brown, a regular feature in the New York Herald, beginning in 1902. Outcault (1863-1928), who is also the creator of some of the first modern-style cartoon characters.įront cover showing Buster Brown's pet bull dog Tige in front of one of the resolutions that Buster draws up at the end of each story. While compiling a list of primary sources that could serve as examples for different writing styles and genres, I came across the children’s book Tige - His Story, written and illustrated by R. Take for instance a freshmen seminar like ENGL150W Writers about Writing. The Chapin-Horowitz Collection is my go-to treasure-trove for fun and unexpected sources on pretty much any undergraduate course topic that comes our way during the school year. ![]()
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