On the Comics Page

Oct. 27, 1907
Los Angeles

Along with “Little Nemo,” “Buster Brown” was a popular feature of the Sunday comics. Like other cartoons of the era, such as “The Katzenjammer Kids” and “Foxy Grandpa,” that were full of naughty children, Buster Brown was fond of pulling pranks on adults.

Unlike Hans and Fritz, who usually ended up getting a good paddling and threats of being sent to reform school, Buster Brown usually learned his lesson the hard way and in the final panel always promised to mend his ways in a long block of text titled “RESOLVED.”


One bit of Buster Brown’s wisdom has stayed with me since I read it as a kid in an anthology on the history of comics: “If the carpet were as worn in front of the bookcase as it is in front of the mirror it would be a better world.”



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