Comic strip trivia smiles . . .

Here is some comic strip trivia: Today is the birthday of Rudolph Dirks (February 26, 1877 – April 20, 1968). He was one of the earliest and most noted comic strip creator/artists. 

Rudolph Dirks is best known for the creation of the comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids which made its debut on December 12, 1897.

The Katzenjammer Kids
1901

"It was Rudolph Dirk's "Katzenjammer Kids", which appeared on December 12, 1897 in the Journal American. Previously, cartoon panels had no in-panel dialogue, but in the Katzenjammer Kids dialogue was directly applied within a "word balloon" indicating the speaker. Also, until then no strip had ever consisted of more than the one panel format of the editorial or political cartoon. The Katzenjammers combined both the aspect of internal dialogue and panelized continuity, and in the process designed and solidified the form of the modern visual narrative strip." - Quote source (1)

The Katzenjammer Kids is the oldest comic strip still in syndication. It is distributed by King Features Syndicate.

Image source (1)