Katzenjammer Kids — 1903-10-04

Six panels follow Der Captain through a comic farewell: he announces he is sailing away, the boys Hans and Fritz weep theatrically, Mama smothers him with hugs, and the Captain sings *Auld Lang Syne* — only for the final panel to reveal his luggage never left the ship, exposing the whole goodbye as a scheme to cadge affection. Rudolph Dirks launched *The Katzenjammer Kids* in 1897 for the Hearst syndicate, directly adapting Wilhelm Busch's *Max und Moritz*. Dirks crystallized the conventions that would define the form: numbered panels in strict sequence, speech balloons integrated into the drawing, and a cast of recurring characters whose personalities drive every gag. These Sunday pages — lithographed in color, folded into sections — are the direct physical ancestors of the comic book.