Review- BUSTER BROWN'S ANTICS

BUSTER BROWN'S ANTICS (Frederick A. Stokes Co.(*?), 1906(*?); Softcover)

*My copy has copyright dates on the strips of 1906 and 1907 American Journal Examiner, Great Britain. It's possible that my copy is from the UK. If so, it was released in the UK in 1908, not 1906, which is probable seeing as how the US version is copyright 1906. Contents differ wildly between countries. The French version of this book with the same cover and title has wholly different contents.

The spine of this book.

The following strips are present in my copy of this book:

Buster And The Goat- Tige To The Woods (1906)

Buster's Goat Yields To Kindness (1906)

Buster Fools His Mama/ Up In A Balloon, Boys. (1906)

Poor Buster Gets The Blame (1906)

Buster's Education/ The New Tutor (1906)

Buster Gets The Worst Of It (1907)

Why is a Goat Nearly? (1906)

What Would You Do With A Boy Like This? (1906)

Was It Not Buster's Boat? Not Yet- But- Soon (undated)

Buster's Pet Goat/ But The Goat Was Cleaned (undated)

Getting An Education (1906)

Buster's Dilemma/ And It Was Halloween Too (1906, my copy is missing the second page)

(NOTE) I can't find an exact table of contents for this book anywhere online. My copy is missing the title page, which seems to be in every other copy I've seen online. Most sources show this book as having 31 pages. My copy has a total of 23 pages, meaning that it is likely missing the title page, one story page, and three two-page stories. This was a “quarter box” equivalent beater reader copy when compared to the nicer copies found online. If you are willing to spend upwards of 400 bucks you can get some cleaner copies. I got this for a small fraction of that cost. Oh well, you get what you pay for, right?

Writer and Artist: R. F. Outcault

This is the fourth collection of Buster Brown newspaper strips that was published from what I have gathered. There is a real lack of resources on the publishing history of the character online. The usual sources have some information but it is skeletal at best. I have yet to find a definitive source on the publication history with dates for each strip. Indeed, one may not even exist.

Outcault is an absolute genius. His earlier creation, The Yellow Kid, was a real salt of the Earth concept. Buster Brown is an affluent upper class child, the Little Lord Fauntleroy prudent Victorian child that was all but fantasy to a large portion of the reading audience.

Buster seems to lead a carefree life free of all want, left to pursue fun and mischief with playmates while causing headaches for his prim and proper mother. His talking dog, Tige, seems to be the moral compass and smartest character in the strip.

This stuff bleeds charm. It's a fun read as a read, and when you factor in the obscurity, scarcity, and cultural and historical significance to the artform it's invaluable. There is one strip here which would offend today's more politically correct fanbase. I wish that Sunday Press Books, Classic Comics Press, Fantagraphics, or Library Of American Comics would rescue this strip from the dustbins of history and reprint it in hardcover. This likely hasn't happened because the strips are either scarce and/or there aren't enough fans of Outcault left in this mortal coil to buy them.

I am admittedly not an expert on the Platinum Age of Comics but am eager to learn. There are several Facebook groups on the subject and scattered resources but have yet to find some definitive source detailing the print history of the strip and assorted books. I would be grateful to anyone who can show me where to go to learn more.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Old newspapers were fricking HUGE. The Sunday pages are cut in half here, with the top half's worth of panels going across one page and the second half going across the next. Each page is single sided, likely due to the limits of printing technology of the day.

Buster Fools His Mama/ Up In A Balloon, Boys. page two is misbound behind the story which followed it. These books were bound by hand back then, so it is doubtful that the entire run was effected by my copy's defect.

Linework and Color restoration: I couldn't even begin to guess how this compares to the original newspaper strips. From what I've been able to piece together this strip wasn't even printed in color in every market. What I can tell you is that the print quality for this time is downright stunning. Four color printing with minimal line bleed or off-register printing.

Paper stock: Glossy paper of the day, far less glossy than what we would call glossy today but the paper has a slickness to it as well as bright, vibrant colors. Being 110+ years old it is brittle and there are flakes everywhere every time I flip through it.

Binding: Cloth bound. Handling a 110+ year old book felt like handling the dead sea scrolls.

This book once belonged to some children, who wrote their names on the back cover. It's wild to think that the children who wrote this are long dead and gone and likely have greatgrandchildren roaming around now.

Cardstock cover notes: The cover is pretty thick, but time and endless handling have rendered it fragile, with folds, creases, and flaking everywhere.