The Yellow Kid

One of the first and most influential recurring comic strip characters, The Yellow Kid was created by Richard F. Outcault. Having the strips published in both Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal, Outcault's strip series ran from 1895 to 1898. The title character, actually named Mickey Dugan, was a poor kid who lived in the slums of Manhattan. He wore an oversized yellow nightshirt and is bald and snaggle-toothed, but still had a fun outlook on life. Each strip would depict him and his alley friends taking part in fun adventures like helping set up a charity drive, learning to box, or traveling throughout Europe. Most of the strips would be one entire event depicting Dugan and his friends taking part in something with descriptions and word balloons explaining things or making jokes, while a few did have smaller consecutive events but still having the descriptions and other writing. What makes the adventures of Dugan and his friends so important to the history of comic books is that it was one of the first in the country to have a recurring cast with a story each strip, being published on Sundays regularly, and having the first use of speech balloons in America. While the stories are entertaining, Outcault's motive was to inform and teach the readers about people, and especially kids, in poverty, thus give them sympathy rather than judgment. For a comic strip from the 1890s, the depiction of black kids is shown positively for the most part, as while they're drawn stereotypically and often written as not as intelligent they're depicted playing alongside Mickey and the other white kids and have good personalities. Being nearly 130 years old, The Yellow Kid still works really well, the art looks really good, the messages are still important, and the characters are entertaining. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 4th set of comics:

1. The Yellow Kid