A tiny nonhuman observer positioned at the margin of a cartoon is a standard vehicle for the "realist" deflation of pretension. In the Yellow Kid and the subsequent cartoons of Outcault and Luks we can see a genealogical relation between this sort of "little guy" figure and the working class urchins of Hogan's Alley.

Top: George Herriman, cartoon, Los Angeles Examiner c. 1909; rpt. in Patrick McDonnell, Karen O'Connell, Georgia riley de Havenon, Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1986) 48.

Bottom: Oliphant, cartoon, Ann Arbor News 30 June 1993.