Happy Hooligan

Frederick Burr Opper’s Happy Hooligan began in 1903 in the New York American and Journal, introducing the perpetually cheerful, tin-can-hatted tramp who became one of the earliest and most beloved figures in American newspaper comics. As a single-issue comic strip, it established Opper as a master of gentle, gag-a-day humor and visual storytelling, influencing generations of cartoonists with its simple, expressive linework and the enduring appeal of its optimistic underdog.