Buster Brown

R. F. Outcault's *Buster Brown* ran in the New York Herald beginning in 1902, making this eight-panel Sunday page one of the strip's middle-period outings. Here Buster and his bull terrier Tige rig a magic-lantern projector to cast silhouettes of a kissing couple onto a window shade, fooling passersby into thinking neighbors are romancing — until the mark bursts in and Buster yells "April Fool!" The final panel delivers Buster's trademark "Resolved" moral, delivered with cheerful insincerity. Outcault, who had already launched the Yellow Kid in 1895, refined the recurring-character Sunday page into a reliable commercial property; Buster's name was licensed to shoes, clothing, and candy, making him one of the first comic-strip characters to anchor a merchandise empire.