Pre-Golden Age comics - Buster Brown

[thistleburr]

I was going to post these on the 30 Days of Winter series, but wasn't able to for various reasons. Anyway, here are a few scans from one of my favorite pre-Golden Age comics, Buster Brown!






Buster Brown is a newspaper comic strip created by Richard Felton Outcault in 1902. Most people seem more familiar with his other famous strip, The Yellow Kid.

Buster Brown is a usually well-meaning but always trouble-making young boy, with a talking animal companion (an American pit bull terrier named Tige,) whose words only he can hear, and whose sage advice he usually ignores. In a lot of ways, the strip reminds me of an early Calvin and Hobbes. Buster usually writes about what lessons he's learned at the end of each strip.

Buster often gets in trouble despite meaning well...






But sometimes he is quite bad.






Sometimes he even uses his trouble making skills for good ;)






The comic is now in public domain. You can read more Buster Brown comics, in black and white, here at the public domain comic resource Barnacle Press!

Comments

[jogadoresesquecidos.blogspot.com]

Very good. And thanks for the link, which tactfully states that "Buster’s mom is totally hot" ;)

BTW, I think he did a cameo on Alan Moore's LEG, as a complaining kid who was eventually killed by Moore himself.

[misterbug]

Ah yes! But that was in fact only visually based on this character; Moore's character was actually a tongue-in-cheek parody of fans who got angry for issue of LoEG being overly late. Plus, it was done in the style of one of Hillaire Belloc's "Cautionary Tales", written around the same time.

[psychopathicus_rex]

He also cameoed as a background character in 'Top Ten: The Forty-Niners'.

[thistleburr]

Glad you liked it! :D If you like old comics, another good resource for public domain comics is The Comic Strip Library. They have Krazy Kat and Little Nemo :)

[mcity]

I love the look on his face when he goes "It's all off, then."

[meatwhichdreams]

I love that one too! It's perfect. :D

[tacobob]

I think people probably know 'Buster Brown' more for the shoes than the strip. As for the Yellow Kid. Blade fought him more than a few times..Nasty fellow.

[halloweenjack]

Yeah, that's all I knew him from previously, myself.

[jlroberson]

One of those examples of a licensed trademark that outlived its source.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Wait wait wait - Blade?! Since when is the Yellow Kid a vampire?

[tacobob]

In the last Blade series the famous vampire hunter (In Flashbacks) fights a very creepy Yellow Kid vampire. It's cool, but you have to slog through Howard Chaykin's increasingly ugly art.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Huh. Well, what will they think of next.

[jlroberson]

Since always. That's what the vampire in Nosferatu looked like as a little boy.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh, that's a LOVELY mental image. Oy yoy yoy. If I can't get to sleep tonight, I'm blamin' you! *shakes fist*

[icon_uk]

The "Now I'll have some nice little chickens" panel suggests that what we have here is a serial kiler in the making.

[thistleburr]

Yeah... the strangeness of it is part of the appeal to me XD

[misterbug]

I've actually held a copy of this while I worked at a second-hand bookshop. That kid did some strange stuff.

[thistleburr]

I tried to post more normal strips on here but yes it does get pretty strange XD

[punishermax]

LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH

[halloweenjack]

I was cured, all right!

[destroyed]

The tales of a young Alexander DeLarge. And now I can't unsee it.

[jlroberson]

Even the same hair.

[sadoeuphemist]

Seriously though, this kid is terrifying. The dogcatcher story, it's like a horror movie from the point of view of the creepy demon children.

[jlroberson]

That's the great thing--he is utterly, consciously bad, like Bart Simpson. He's also an upper-class kid, and in light of HOGAN'S ALLEY, you might find some social comment in that.

He REALLY torments those Irish maids. There's the Night of Pumpkins page for instance.

[halloweenjack]

"If you fool with licker you must expect to get licked." Sounds good to me!

[thistleburr]

It's good advice!

[psychopathicus_rex]

I like how Peck Bros. specifies that yes, you can THROW their eggs as well. Imagine if modern groceries were that candid.

'Aisle #5, Projectiles. Eggs, tomatoes, apples, kiwi fruit, and party balloons (water sold separately).'

[thistleburr]

That made me laugh too XD I also love how the rooster is just chillin' in the doorway in that panel XD

[psychopathicus_rex]

Yeah, that's a nice little detail. It's like the moment in 'Cat Ballou' where the Lee Marvin character is sitting on his horse, and they're BOTH leaning up against the wall drunk.

[meatwhichdreams]

These golden age newspaper comics are always a delectable treat. Thanks for posting! I love rolling around in the lavish art and sheer unfettered weirdness.

[thistleburr]

Hahaha YES! I feel exactly the same way about them XD The weirdness and wonderfully detailed artwork are just delicious. If you like this kind of stuff, make sure to check out The Comic Strip Library and Barnacle Press! They're both goldmines of public-domain old newspaper comics. The Comic Strip Library has a whole bunch of high-res Little Nemo strips... :D

[meatwhichdreams]

OOooh, thanks for the tip! :D

[jlroberson]

Oh, yum, Buster Brown pages I haven't seen. I love this strip. He's such an utter little bastard. The obvious prototype for what would eventually become, say, Bart Simpson, Dennis the Menace, Calvin, lots others.

Outcault was such a freakin' master. I also love the color printing in this era.

[thistleburr]

I love this strip too! Glad you enjoyed the scans. I scanned them from this book of full-color Buster Brown strips, which you can get pretty cheap on amazon. Barnacle Press (linked in the post) has a whole lot of the strips, but in black and white. I agree that the color printing is just beautiful on these, though :)