Abstract
This study uses frameworks transposed from Japanese comics studies to examine the transformation of the eponymous protagonist of Happy Hooligan, an early American newspaper comic. The essay pays particular attention to issues of character design and highlights problems and possibilities arising from the treatment of stereotypical characters in Japanese writing on comics. Previous research on Happy Hooligan (1900-1932) has focused on how the protagonist of this series has been depicted as a stereotypical poor Irish immigrant. Ōtsuka Eiji and Miyamoto Hirohito, for example, argue that stereotypes in comics are depicted via the predictable and unchanging design of characters. In this case, largely due to the name “Happy Hooligan,” the alliteration of the name, combined with its suggestion of carefree simplicity, draws on ethnic stereotype to characterize the main character. Going against the grain of this research, this essay focuses on overlooked early episodes of the comic (1900-1901) to suggest a substantially different representation of the main character and explains a transformation in “Happy’s” characterization from a morally problematic character in early episodes to a sympathetic character in the episodes that follow.
