VALENTINE POSTCARD (1903)BY R. OUTCAULT. FAMED NEWSPAPER CARTOON ARTIST

The characters are not as familiar as Buster Brown & his dog Tige, but I do recognize the bear, and the little black boy from some of his strips. This a Valentine of 1903 , a Tucks (England) Postcard addressed but unsent to someone in Rhode Island, undivided back. Card says :
"I dreams about yo' every night
I thinks of yo' by day.
I specks yo' is my Valentine,
It cert'ly seems that way"
After graduation, Outcault was employed by Thomas Edison as a technical illustrator, going to Paris as the official artist for Edison’s traveling exhibit of electric lighting. In 1890, he moved to New York City, where he joined Electrical World (a magazine owned by one of Edison’s friends) and became a regular contributor to Truth magazine, Judge and Life.[1]

Buster Brown

The Yellow Kid
After he signed on with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, Pulitzer placed Outcault's comics in a color supplement, using a single-panel color cartoon on the front page called Hogan's Alley, depicting an event in a fictional slum. Hogan's Alley debuted May 5, 1895.[2]

In October 1896, Outcault defected to William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The result of a lawsuit awarded the title "Hogan's Alley" to the World and "The Yellow Kid" to the Journal.

In 1902, Outcault introduced Buster Brown, a mischievous boy dressed in Little Lord Fauntleroy style, and his dog Tige. The strip and characters were very popular, and Outcault eventually licensed the name for a number of consumer products, notably to the Brown Shoe Company.

At the Herald, Outcault worked alongside fellow comic strip pioneer Winsor McCay (who at that point was mostly working on illustrations and editorial cartoons). A rivalry built up between the two cartoonists, which resulted in Outcault leaving the Herald to return to his previous employer, William Randolph Hearst at The New York Journal.In the Journal, Outcault began experimenting with using multiple panels and speech balloons. Although he was not the first to use either technique, his use of them created the standard by which comics were measured.

Hard for me to get some photos "right' Enlarge

This is VIVID and in great shape!