Notes concerning the culture of the marketplace:

• The Kid's world is plastered with ads that reveal both the omnipresence of commerce and the ridiculous implausibility of their own discourse. The realist sensibility inherent in the neighborhood uncovers the bottom line beneath advertising hogwash.

Notes concerning the business of the strips:

• Outcault's competition with George Luks's rival version of the Kid moves him to define the authenticity of the Kid in terms of his own signature rather than in terms of the realism of his portrayal.

Richard F. Outcault, "Li Hung Chang Visits Hogan's Alley," cartoon,New York World 6 Sept. 1896; rpt. in R.F. Outcault'sThe Yellow Kid: A CentennialCelebration of the Kid Who Started the Comics,(Northampton, Massachusetts:Kitchen Sink Press, 1995) plate 34.