Buster Brown — 1909-01-31

Seven panels follow young Buster and his dog Tige hiding inside a molasses barrel on a two-wheeled cart, gleefully taunting their uncle — until he tips the barrel and drenches them. The strip closes with Buster's signature Resolved moral, here a sly meditation on molasses, owls, and false wisdom. Outcault's linework is assured: thick blacks, expressive silhouettes, and speech balloons cleanly integrated into action. Buster Brown launched in the New York Herald in 1902, shortly after Outcault's own Yellow Kid had helped prove that recurring comic characters could anchor newspaper circulation. These Sunday pages — their panel grids, balloon lettering, and cliffhanger rhythm — directly shaped the anthology reprint comics of the 1930s that became the first true comic books.