Not as many people read newspapers as they did back in the day, but most of us are well aware of a little something known as the Comic Strip. This popular art form traces its roots back to late 19th century America when cities usually had multiple newspapers, all competing for local supremacy. Early cartoonists were, to an extent, newspaper salespeople, hired by editors to make their papers more attractive to potential readers. The first successful cartoon series was Down in Hogan's Alley, by Richard Outcault, and began running in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World as a single picture on July 7, 1895. The central character eventually came to be known as “The Yellow Kid”, and the cartoon brought good business to its paper. Eventually, however, Pulitzer’s rival, William Randolph Hearst, hired Outcault away from Pulitzer to continue cartooning for the New York Journal. Pulitzer responded by hiring George Luks to continue Down in Hogan’s Alley for his paper. As a result, two competing versions of the same cartoon began running simultaneously. And this rivalry inspired the term yellow journalism. Go Figure!
P.S. I don’t sell newspapers, but I do draw comic strips!
My Tapastic page:
https://tapastic.com/series/Candace-n-Company
My website:
http://candaceandcompany.com/
