The realist hero becomes pure spectacle
Outcault accentuates the fantastic elements of the strip.
Having been distanced from New York, the realist protagonist can return to the city as an alien freak--a spectacle to be gawked at by the urbanites.

Richard Felton Outcault, Pore Lil' Mose, New York Herald c. 1901-1902; rpt. in Alan Havig, "Richard F. Outcault's 'Poor Lil' Mose': Variations on the Black Stereotype in American Comic Art," Journal of American Culture 11.1 (Spr. 1988): 36-37.