''Baron Bean'' is a newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

created by the cartoonist

George Herriman George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip '' Krazy Kat'' (1913–1944). More influential than popular, ''Krazy Kat'' had an appreciative audience ...

. ''Baron Bean'' was distributed by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

. Ron Goulart. ''The Funnies:100 years of American comic strips''. Holbrook, Mass. : Adams Pub., 1995. (p. 110) ''Baron Bean'' replaced Herriman's previous domestic comedy strip, ''

The Dingbat Family ''The Dingbat Family'' (also ''The Family Upstairs'') is a comic strip by American cartoonist George Herriman that ran from June 20, 1910, to January 4, 1916. It introduced Herriman's most famous pair of characters: Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse, ...

'', which ran from 1910 to January 4, 1916. On January 5, 1916, Herriman began the daily ''Baron Bean'', and continued until January 22, 1919. Herriman continued to draw other strips in addition to ''

Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an US, American newspaper comic strip, by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Journal-American, New Yor ...

'' through 1932.

M. Thomas Inge M. Thomas Inge (March 18, 1936 – May 15, 2021) was an American academic. He was the Robert Emory Blackwell Professor of Humanities at Randolph–Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, where he taught, edited, and wrote about Southern literat ...

took note of Herriman's interest in silent comedies and observed, "In his appearance, the Baron borrowed his cane and his facial features from

Chaplin Chaplin may refer to: People * Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director * Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin Films * '' Unknown Chaplin'' (1983) * ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992) * ''Chaplin'' (2011 film), Ben ...

." Comics historian

Ron Goulart Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author. He published novelizations and other work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson, Con ...

stated that while ''Baron Bean'' superficially resembled ''

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newsp ...

'', "Herriman usually shunned conventional jokes and it exhibited some of the graphic eccentricities to be found in more abundance in ''Krazy Kat''." Herriman had previously drawn a similar character, Baron Mooch, in 1909–10. In 1977, the strips were collected in ''Baron Bean: 1916–1917'' (Hyperion Press). In 2012, IDW's "

The Library of American Comics Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic United States, American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007. History Background Dean Mullaney ...

" announced a three-volume reprint of ''Baron Bean'' as part of their new '' LoAC Essentials'' series. The first volume came out in September 2012 (covering the year 1916), the second came out in December 2014 (covering the year 1917), and the final volume came out in December 2018 (covering the year 1918 and the few 1919 strips). They span volumes 1, 6, and 12 of the LOAC Essentials series, respectively.

References

1916 comics debuts 1919 comics endings American comics characters American comic strips Defunct American comics Comics characters introduced in 1916 Fictional barons and baronesses Gag-a-day comics Male characters in comics {{comic-strip-stub