Historedia
AmericasEvent

The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip debuts

When
1897
Where
New York Journal
Episodes
1

The Katzenjammer Kids debuted on December 12, 1897, in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. Created by Rudolph Dirks, the strip featured naughty twins Hans and Fritz who rebelled against authority figures like their mother and a sailor captain.

Episodes

  1. 1897-12-12 · New York JournalDebut in the American Humorist

    The Katzenjammer Kids debuted on December 12, 1897, in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of the New York Journal.

Background and detail

Background. Rudolph Dirks created The Katzenjammer Kids in 1897. The strip debuted in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The characters included Hans and Fritz, twins who rebelled against authority, particularly their mother, Mama, and der Captain, a sailor who acted as a surrogate father.

Publication Context. The New York Journal was published by William Randolph Hearst from 1895 to 1937. The strip debuted in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of this newspaper. The Journal was later renamed the New York American in 1901.

People involved

Sources

  1. The Katzenjammer Kids Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-10
  2. New York Journal-American Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-11

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.