R.F. Outcault’s The Yellow Kid: A Centennial Celebration of the Kid Who Started the Comics from Kitchen Sink Press introduces Mickey Dugan, the character who appeared in both Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Heart’s newspapers, launching the popular comic strip in its modern form while lending his name to “yellow journalism” due to the competition between papers to control the character rights. Bill Blackbeard, the Director of the San Francisco Academy of Art, writes a detailed history of the comic strip that situates it in its historical context while William Randolph Hearst III provides the foreword.

A prototype version of Outcault’s Kid first appeared in his 1895 cartoon for Truth magazine, “Fourth Ward Brownies,” in which the baldheaded child in a nightshirt stood among another group of street urchins. Blackbeared explains that the image would not have been uncommon at the time, as cut-down nightshirts were a cheap form of children’s playclothes and many parents would shave a child’s head as a quick way to treat lice. The cartoon reached an even wider audience when Pulitzer’s New York World, which originated the comics supplement in newspapers, reprinted it. Though variations on this prototype continued appearing in “Hogan’s Alley” and his other cartoons, Outcault finalized the Kid’s appearance in 1896, eventually bringing him to Hearst’s New York Journal. Meanwhile, George Luks, who had previously worked with Outcault, continued a version of “Hogan’s Alley” in the World. Through the writing on Mickey Dugan’s nightshirt, both Outcault and Luks commented on the political and cultural issues of the Gilded Age.

The introduction features several panels and examples of the comic strip and other comics from the era to illustrate the history. Following the introduction, Kitchen Sink Press reprints 122 color, full-page comic strips of the Yellow Kid for readers to enjoy or study. As the first major comic strip character, Mickey Dugan deserves study both from comic fans and American cultural historians. This volume represents an important work in comics scholarship. ( )

It was quite appalling how long the world had to wait for a reproduction of the first comic strip as we know the term. This is a great edition, issued in large enough format to be very legible. The strip itself is not particularly resonant any more, but remains curious and at times amusing. ( )