Stamp issued on 10-01-1995

1901

The comic strip"The Katzenjammer Kids" (Hans and Fritz), created by Rudolph
Dirks and drawn by Harold H. Knerr first appeared in the American Humorist,
the Sunday supplement of the New York Journal.  

Dirks was the first cartoonist to express dialogue in comic characters through
the use of thought balloons.

The Katzenjammer Kids was later renamed “The Captain and the Kids’ because
of anti-German sentiment during World War l. It is still distributed by King Features, making it the oldest comic strip still in syndication and the longest-running ever.

 
German immigrant Rudolph Dirks