The first, the longest and the largest

You'll have heard this before a million times ... "do your research". And while what follows isn't strictly directly related to marketing or development it's interesting none-the-less.

A few cartoon facts:

Earliest Cartoon strip in US newspaper:
"The Yellow Kid" - New York World, 1895

This is the most cited example of the first cartoon... but there are plenty of examples predating it. It was this cartoon that gave rise to the term "yellow journalism". During the American-Spanish war the newspapers that ran the cartoon (refered to as the "yellow papers") became known for their sensationalist and innacurate reportage and hence the term "yellow journalism" arose.

Longest running strip:
"The Katzenjammer Kids" - 1897 to present

Created by Rudolph Dirks for the American Humorist in 1897, Kings Features still syndicates this strip today. Today it is drawn by Hy Eisman

Most syndicated comic strip:
Peanuts - 1950 to present appearing in more than 2,300 newspapers

Peanuts has had a long history with 50 years and 18,000 strips. After Charles Schulz's death no new strips have been drawn as were his wishes.