Buster Brown

Richard Outcault's *Buster Brown* ran in the New York Herald beginning in 1902, making it one of the earliest recurring-character Sunday strips to exploit the full visual grammar Outcault himself had pioneered with *The Yellow Kid* a decade before: sequential panels, integrated speech balloons, and a cast readers returned to each week. This nine-panel page follows Buster and his bull terrier Tige visiting a Professor of Physical Culture whose juggling clown guest attempts a blindfolded club routine—with explosive results. Outcault's draftsmanship is fluid and confident; panels build comic momentum through body language and escalating props. The strip's popularity crossed into licensed merchandise, foreshadowing how comic characters would eventually anchor entire industries. Sunday pages like this one are the direct ancestors of the comic book format.