The Yellow Kid

For the con man Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil, see Joseph Weil.

The Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid
Publication information
PublisherJoseph Pulitzer's New York World
William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal
First appearance17 February 1895
Created byRichard F. Outcault
In-story information
Full nameMickey Dugan
Handwritten claim for copyright on "The Yellow Dugan Kid" to the Librarian of Congress on September 7, 1896

The Yellow Kid (Mickey Dugan[1]) is an American comic-strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, and later William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. Created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault in the comic strip Hogan's Alley (and later under other names as well), the strip was one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper, although its graphical layout had already been thoroughly established in political and other, purely-for-entertainment cartoons.[2] Outcault's use of word balloons in The Yellow Kid influenced the basic appearance and use of balloons in subsequent newspaper comic strips and comic books.

The Yellow Kid is also famous for its connection to the coining of the term "yellow journalism".[3] The idea of "yellow journalism" referred to stories that were sensationalized for the sake of selling papers, and was so named after the "Yellow Kid" cartoons. Through his cartoons, Outcault's work aimed his humor and social commentary at Pulitzer's adult readership. The strip has been described as "a turn-of-the-century theater of the city, in which class and racial tensions of the new urban, consumerist environment were acted out by a mischievous group of New York City kids from the wrong side of the tracks".[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference OSU was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Wood, Mary (2004). The Yellow Kid on paper and stage, Contemporary illustrations. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Quimby was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ The Yellow Kid on paper and stage: Introduction. Retrieved 17 October 20