Buster Brown

R.F. Outcault's *Buster Brown* ran as a full-color Sunday page in the *New York Herald* beginning 1902, making it one of the earliest recurring-character strips to exploit the full visual grammar Outcault himself had helped pioneer with *The Yellow Kid* (1895–98): multi-panel grids, integrated speech balloons, and a signature closing "Resolved" moral delivered in-panel by the mischief-maker himself. This black-and-white page follows Buster as he attempts to clean house while the servants are away — sweeping up dust clouds, smashing dishes, blacking the stove — each panel building comic escalation toward his inevitable spanking and rueful resolution. Outcault's clean line, expressive staging, and panel-to-panel continuity directly influenced every cartoonist who followed. His work in the Sunday supplements *is* the origin of the American comic book format.