Though Buster Brown and his bulldog Tige are best known today as trademarks for a brand of clothing and shoes, they got their start as one of America's first comic strips. The beloved pair were created in 1902 by cartoonist Richard Felton Outcault (1863–1928), who also created the very first comic strip in the United States, The Yellow Kid. Buster Brown, dressed in his familiar red smock and bloomers, with blond bangs and an angelic face, was a mischievous little boy whose antics always got him into trouble. His loyal companion Tige was the first talking animal in a cartoon strip.

Buster Brown's popularity led manufacturers to pay to use his image on over two hundred products. Besides advertising such items as shoes and clothes, Buster and Tige appeared in books and silent movies (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). Today, though almost no one...