Who wrote the first cartoon strip?
Cartoons are everywhere today—on TV, in newspapers, on social media, and in books. They make us laugh, think, and sometimes even learn. But did you know cartoons started out as a serious art?
Back in the Italian Renaissance, the word “cartoon” referred to large, detailed sketches artists made before painting murals or designing tapestries. These were not meant to be funny—they were high art!
Later on, artists in Europe like Hogarth, Daumier, and Rowlandson began drawing series of images around a single idea or character. These early visual stories were the ancestors of today’s comic strips. When the printing press came around in the 15th century, both words and pictures could be reproduced on a large scale. By the 16th to 18th centuries, illustrated flyers and broadsheets started appearing everywhere, often making fun of politics or society—just like modern editorial cartoons.
In the 1800s, humour magazines like Le Charivari in France and Punch in England made cartoons a regular feature. They used funny drawings, called caricatures, to comment on news, politics, and human behaviour. These drawings were clever and powerful tools for social commentary.
Cartoons really took off when newspapers started printing them regularly. In the 1890s, American papers battled for readers by adding colourful comic panels. Richard Outcault’s “The Yellow Kid” was one of the first hits—it even inspired the term “yellow journalism.”
By the early 1900s, comic strips had become a beloved part of daily newspapers. Comics like Buster Brown and Bringing Up Father were so popular that kids dressed like the characters and the stories were translated into dozens of languages. As comic strips grew, publishers started collecting them into comic books. These weren’t just for fun—soon, comics began to cover everything from history and science to classic novels. Today, educational comics are used in classrooms around the world.
Animated cartoons also started to emerge in the early 20th century. One of the earliest was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J. Stuart Blackton in 1906. Using chalk drawings and stop-motion photography, he brought simple characters to life on screen—an early peek into animation magic.
Then came Walt Disney. In 1928, he introduced the world to Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, the first animated cartoon with sound. It was a game-changer and marked the start of a new era in entertainment.
Over the decades, cartoons have evolved into many forms. Editorial cartoons comment on news and politics, often with a sharp, satirical twist. Gag panels deliver one-liner jokes in a single frame. Comic strips tell ongoing stories, while animated cartoons capture the hearts of viewers on screen.
Whether they’re silly or serious, cartoons remain a creative way to share ideas, poke fun at the world, and tell powerful stories. From museum walls to your phone screen, cartoons have come a long way—and they’re still going strong.