Line #34 ComicStrip/BusterBrown


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buster_brown_et_tige.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:Buster Brown and his dog, Tige.]]
3	Though today the name is [[AdaptationDisplacement synonymous with shoes]] (as a 1904 licensing deal resulted in his becoming the {{mascot}} of the Brown Shoe Company), ''Buster Brown'' was originally a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault.
4
5	The comic strip began in the ''New York Herald'' on May 4, 1902. Outcault left for William Randolph Hearst's employ in 1906, and after a court battle, Outcault continued his strip, now nameless, in Hearst papers, while the Herald continued their own version of ''Buster Brown'' with other artists. The latter lasted until 1911 or so, and Outcault's version until at least 1921.
6
7	A city-dwelling boy with wealthy parents, Buster's actions belie his pretty looks. Essentially an [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian era]] ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]'', he is a practical joker who might dress in a girl's outfit and have her wear his clothes, break a window with his slingshot, or play a prank on a neighbor. The trick or transgression is discovered and he is punished, usually by being spanked by his mother, but it is unclear if he ever repents. Many strips end with Buster delivering a self-justifying moral which has little or nothing to do with his crime.
8
9	Accompanying Buster in his adventures is his dog, Tige, who is thought to be the first talking pet to appear in American comics. Often he will warn Buster in vain about the trouble he is about to get into.
10
11	Mary Jane, Buster's sweetheart, wore the style of shoes that would eventually bear her name. Besides having become known more as a children's shoe mascot, Buster himself would also lend his name to an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Brown_suit outfit]] worn by young boys during the early 20th century.
12
13	----
14	!!The comic strip provides examples of:
15
16	* ArtEvolution: Earlier renditions of Buster and Tige bore a more or less realistic aesthetic. By the late 1950s, promotional comic books featuring Buster and Tige's adventures has the two drawn in a [[https://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2012/05/number-1152-out-of-this-world-with.html more streamlined style]] typical of the era, and Buster no longer wears bar shoes (which were later named after his sweetheart). The issue [[http://andeverythingelsetoo.blogspot.com/2010/08/buster-brown-goes-to-mars.html "Buster Brown Goes To Mars"]] has Buster drawn in an even more stylized manner, his proportions leaning more towards a toddler than an eight-to-ten year old. In the 1980s the Brown Shoe Company [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmC8uVhGlHQ updated their logo]] to keep up with the times, with Buster and Tige bearing a more contemporary outfit.
17	* BratsWithSlingshots: Buster
18	* BrokenGlassPenalty: Buster breaks a window with his slingshot.
19	* CharacterTitle
20	* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Buster
21	* DisguisedInDrag: In one strip, Buster switches outfits with a girl named Florence and cuts her hair in his pageboy style. When they are discovered by their mothers, they each receive a spanking.
22	* DogStereotype: Tige is a child-friendly and loyal pit bull.
23	* DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: Buster is subjected to this multiple times by his mother thanks to good old-fashioned ValuesDissonance.
24	* DreadfulMusician: Buster plays the violin in one strip, so terribly that his mother hires a teacher to try to get him to play properly. When the lessons don't help, Buster gets the idea to perform in the street, pretending to be blind. He is then given money by sympathetic passers-by.
25	* TheEdwardianEra: The comic strip was contemporary to this time period.
26	* IntellectualAnimal: Tige
27	* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Buster, with his pageboy hairstyle.
28	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The name Buster came from the popularity of Creator/BusterKeaton, then a child actor in vaudeville.
29	* RecycledINSPACE: In keeping with the Space Age craze during the 1950s, at least two adventures putting Buster and Tige in a space flight were published and given away for free as premiums in shoe stores--''Buster Brown Goes to Mars'' and ''Buster Brown in "Out of This World!"''.
30	* SarcasticDevotee: Tige, who will often make snarky asides about the trouble Buster will inevitably get into.
31	-->"I'm glad I'm not in this. I see a fast finish."
32	* TheTrickster: Buster
33	* {{Tuckerization}}: Mary Jane was named and inspired by Richard F. Outcault's own daughter.
34	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Buster as part of his antics where he would switch clothes with a girl.
35	* WholeCostumeReference: To Literature/LittleLordFauntleroy, which was still remembered and even popular at the time and still had mothers dressing up their sons that way.

Context ComicStrip / BusterBrown