The 100th anniversary Katzenjammer stamp.

What American comic strip characters were created in 1897 and are still being syndicated to this very day? No, it’s not that evil temptress Betty Boop or Felix the Cat that cat with the magic bag of tricks who won’t even share his cool magic bag of tricks with anyone ’cause he’s selfish. No, it’s Hans and Fritz Katzenjammer, those irascible Lower East Side German immigrant children who give grief to their Mama with all manner of gentle hi-jinx in the Katzenjammer Kids strip. It first appeared in the “American Humorist” section of William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal, was adapted as a stage play in 1903 and became the subject of a six-decade feud between original creator Rudolph Dirks and the Hearst organization beginning in 1912. Read the rest of this entry »