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As most people like me who think they know a thing or two about the history of newspaper comics know, The Yellow Kid is widely regarded as the very first comic strip character, though this fact has been debated. He was created by Richard F. Outcault, who also created Buster Brown. The Kid originally appeared in a comic feature called Hogan's Alley published in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper. In 1896, however, Outcault was hired by W.R. Hearst to draw for his newspaper, the New York Journal. Due to the way ownership of comic characters worked in those days, the name of the feature in the Journal had to be changed from Hogan's Alley to McFadden's Row Of Flats. Hogan's Alley would continue to run in the World, drawn by George Luks, meaning there were two Yellow Kids running around in two different papers drawn by two different people.

This particular Yellow Kid was drawn by Richard Outcault, and seems to be having no trouble on his ice skates, unlike some of the other people in this comic. The thing I love about Yellow Kid comics is the number of things that you can see happening all at the same time, and the jokes hidden all around the image. There's all the people failing to skate, a tent in the background with "Ice Cream To Let," the kid skating while holding onto a goat that's skating, some sledding mishaps, a man being chased by a bear, and of course the sign on the front of Dempsey's Saloon that says "come in and get a skate," that suggests some kind of slang usage of "skate" that I'm not aware of (unless it really does just mean ice skates). I am a bit worried about the kids building a fire right on the ice next to the "danger" sign, though.

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Mortimer and Charlie was a comic strip based on Edgar Bergen's Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist dummy characters. It was originally illustrated by Ben Batsford, and then by Carl Buettner, who did this particular strip. Even though the strip is credited as "by Edgar Bergen," at least one source claims he didn't script it, though it doesn't say who did. There are gags in the strip taken directly from the Charlie McCarthy radio show, so I guess at least some of Bergen's own material made it into the strip. This iteration of it lasted for less than a year, though there was another, longer lasting Charlie McCarthy strip in the late 40s and early 50s.

Here we see Mortimer Snerd somehow breaking a New Year's resolution in record time, and encouraging Grampaw to break his as well. The final punchline is fine, but I think the joke in the third panel is funnier. Besides, the other rollerskate was left there before Mortimer made the resolution, so it shouldn't count.

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To me, it doesn't seem like a barn roof would make a good ski jump, since there isn't a whole lot of room to build up momentum. Still, it does seem like one of those things that a kid would imagine working really well in his head, only to have it turn out much like this does. Still, if you have to run into a tree while skiing, I guess this isn't the worst result.

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It looks like Santa delivered on what Honey asked for in a previous comic. I guess the bribe worked. She's still not happy, though, because she doesn't get to play with dangerous objects, but maybe she'll get a toy can opener next year or something.

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Priscilla's friend Hollyhock is having the kind of Christmas I would love to have. Not when I was a kid necessarily, but now. Some nice classical music and new books to read sounds great. Priscilla doesn't seem impressed though, and I understand that. Books are great for kids, but they need toys, too. Since Hollyhock likes learning, maybe next year her parents and/or Santa can give her some educational toys along with all the books.

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This is not a great strip, and it basically just reinforces the "lives of the rich and famous" theme that is present throughout Annibelle, but I think the joke is kind of clever. I guess she'll just have to use all of that winter gear when she gets back from the cruise.

Here's to hoping that you got everything you wanted for Christmas, and happy Boxing Day!

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Tales From the Great Book, by John Lehti, was a Sunday only comic strip that retold stories from the Bible. It had fairly wide circulation and had an impressive run, from 1954 to 1972. The focus was mainly on Old Testament stories, but as we see here, at times Lehti would cross over into New Testament territory as well (though with an emphasis on the Ten Commandments).

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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Going to bed on Christmas Eve is always difficult when you're a kid, though I never remember staying up all night and not getting any sleep at all. There was always the Christmas Eve sleep paradox: you don't want to go to sleep because you're too excited, but you want to go to sleep because then the time will seem to pass more quickly. I usually ended up somewhere in between, staying up later than normal but going to sleep eventually, and of course needing to have an extra nap in the middle of the day on Christmas. Christmas in our house was generally very relaxed and unstructured, so that was never a problem.

Also, spare a thought for Priscilla's dog, who didn't get a wink of sleep either and stayed up the whole time with her. That's a loyal pet if I ever saw one.