Yellow Kid

 It is generally accepted that Swinnerton's Little Bears, which started in the San Francisco Examiner in 1893, was the first comic strip with continuing characters.  It started as a small black and white strip and eventually grew into a large color comic.  Here is a picture of the  cartoon in its earliest days, examples of which are quite rare.

You got some of the characters from the 1925 Milton Bradley "Happy Hooligan Game." by Opper..   You got his two brothers and some of the children.  Most of the popular comic strip characters were featured in games, postcards, sheet music, etc.  I think of Swinnerton, Opper, Outcault, and Dirks as the founding fathers of the comic strip so almost anything associated with any of them is worth collecting.

I think I suggested this when I first joined the board, but anyone interested in investing in comics, or anything for that matter, should begin by reading Charles Mackay's great book,

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

I used to have the 100-count and the 50-count Yellow Kid cigar boxes.  I also had the tobacco store Yellow Kid counter cutter for cigars which is quite rare.  When James Challenger's outstanding advertising collection was sold, I got one of his favorite pieces, eight Palmer Cox figures advertising Rainmaker's 5 Cent Segar.  I have those characters standing in front of a Palmer Cox label. There is also a label for Brownies cigars.  I am also including two Buster Brown cigars.  I think the rings could be saved and exchanged for premiums in the booklet that is pictured.  Because the early comics were aimed at adults to encourage them to buy the paper, the advertisements were also aimed at adults.

MMW issue !, pp9-12

  The  next four posts will show the entire first issue of the Mickey Mouse Weekly.  As you will see, a lot of the contents are not Disney based, and most of the interior is printed in black and white.  I think a regular issue is about 11" x 15" but the bound copies are 1/4" smaller in both directionsdue to the binding process.  The title was reduced in size at some point, probably during the war.  The cover and some of the interior was draw by Disney artists in England, some of the color comics were reprinted from America, and other material came from a variety of sources.  Looking through the volumes, I was surprised by the emphasis on science fiction, which may have represented the influence of H. G. Wells.  This post will show pages 1-4 of the first issue, and the next two posts will show pages 5-8 and 9-12.  I should add that the format remained constant with a color centerfold and back page, which along with the cover would have been one wrap.  Enjoy!

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Here are a few duck images you probably haven't seen before reading this comment.  Yesterday I got two NM/M copies of bound volumes of the Mickey Mouse Weekly.  Vol. 1 has issues #1-#37 and Vol. 2 has issues #38-#74 and the issues are immaculate.  They were the personal copies of the European distributor, which later were part of Steve Geppi's collection, which later became part of Tom Kelley's, and now are part of my collection.  The bindings show the slightest wear, but the issues are so beautiful it is hard to believe they are from the 1930's.  Quite honestly, I doubt that most of them have ever been opened.  Following are pictures of the volumes and issues #1, #38, and #74. The images are from handheld pictures and could be a little nicer but I was so thrilled with the volumes that I wanted to share them with you.

The best time I remember going into the vault at Collectors Bookstore was when the left side bookcases were full of nice comics.  I think they had two copies of Superman #1 but what really got my attention were the 12 copies of Batman #1.and these were all nice copies.  If I hadn't been a poor graduate student, I would have bought them all.