Happy Hooligan — Omaha Daily Bee, June 8, 1913

This Sunday page pairs two strips. The top six panels follow Mr. Batch Pays a Brief Visit!, a society-caller gag in which a stout, top-hatted gentleman arrives by motorcar and outstays his welcome. Below, Happy Hooligan Starts Into Society! runs twelve panels: the lovable tramp in his tin-can hat accompanies a well-dressed couple to a social gathering, where his dog Mimi causes chaos, leading to a kick, a shout of *Ouch!*, and a challenge to fight 'in ze American style.' Frederick Burr Opper launched Happy Hooligan in 1900 for Hearst's papers, making it one of the first strips built around a fixed recurring character — a key step in training readers to follow sequential art week after week, the direct ancestor of the comic book format.