Rudolph Dirks

Who was Rudolph Dirks?

Rudolph Dirks was one of the earliest and most noted comic strip artists, well known for The Katzenjammer Kids.

Dirks was born in Heide, Germany to Johannes and Margaretha Dirks. When he was seven years old, his father, a woodcarver, moved the family to Chicago, Illinois. After having sold various cartoons to local magazines Rudolph moved to New York City and found work as a cartoonist. His younger brother Gus soon followed his brother's example. He held several jobs as an illustrator, culminating in a position with William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal.

The circulation war between the Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World was raging. The World had a huge success with the full-color Sunday feature, Down in Hogan's Alley, better known as the Yellow Kid, starting in 1895. Editor Rudolph Block asked Dirks to develop a Sunday comic based on Wilhelm Busch's cautionary tale, Max und Moritz. When Dirks submitted his sketches, Block dubbed them The Katzenjammer Kids, and the first strip appeared on December 12, 1897. Gus Dirks assisted his brother with The Katzenjammer Kids during the first few years, until his suicide on June 10, 1902.