Editing The Katzenjammer Kids (section)

==History==
===Creation and early years===
[[File:Katzenjammer Kids 1922.jpg|thumb|upright|A Sunday comic strip from May 14, 1922, by [[Harold Knerr]].]]
''The Katzenjammer Kids'' was inspired by ''[[Max and Moritz]]'', a children's story of the 1860s by German author [[Wilhelm Busch]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=Richard L. Sine |title=STAMPS; A COLLECTION OF PARCELS BEHIND BARS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/02/arts/stamps-a-collection-of-parcels-behind-bars.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=9 July 2021 |date=2 December 1984}}</ref>

''Katzenjammer'' translates literally as ''the wailing of cats'' - i.e. "caterwaul". However, it is also used to mean ''contrition after a failed endeavor'' or ''hangover'' in German (and, in the latter sense, in English too). Whereas Max & Moritz were grotesquely but comically put to death after seven destructive pranks, the Katzenjammer Kids and the other characters still thrive.

===Dirks and Knerr===
''The Katzenjammer Kids'' was so popular that it became two competing comic strips and the subject of a lawsuit. This happened because Dirks, in 1912, wanted to take a break after drawing the strip for 15 years, but the Hearst newspaper syndicate would not allow it. Dirks left anyway, and the strip was taken over by Harold Knerr. Dirks' last strip appeared March 16, 1913.<ref>Isachsen, Haakon W (editor): ''Knoll og Tott – 100 år i Norge'' (Egmont Serieforlaget, 2011), p. 55. {{ISBN|978-82-429-4437-5}}.</ref> Various [[Ghost artist|ghost artists]] then apparently did the strip for a few months. Dirks sued, and after a long legal battle, the Hearst papers were allowed to continue ''The Katzenjammer Kids'', with Knerr as writer and artist. He took over permanently in the summer of 1914, but Dirks was allowed to create an almost identical strip of his own for the rival [[Pulitzer, Inc.|Pulitzer]] newspapers,<ref name=lambiek/> although he had to use a different name for the strip.

===''The Captain and the Kids''===
{{Infobox comic strip
| title = The Captain and the Kids
| image = Johndirkscapkids22976.jpg
| caption = John Dirks' ''The Captain and the Kids'' (February 29, 1976)
| author = [[Rudolph Dirks]] (1914–c. 1955)
| current = [[John Dirks (cartoonist)|John Dirks]] (c. 1955–1979)
| status = Concluded mostly [[Sunday strip]]
| syndicate = [[World Feature Service]] (1914–1931)<br />[[United Feature Syndicate]] (1931–1979)<ref name=Booker>Booker, M. Keith. "United Feature Syndicate", in ''Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas'' ([[ABC-CLIO]], 2014), p. 399.</ref>
| publisher = United Feature
| genre = Humor
| first = {{start date and age|1914}}
| last = {{end date and age|1979}}
| altnames = ''Hans und Fritz''
}}
Initially named ''Hans und Fritz'' after the two naughty protagonist brothers, Dirks' new feature debuted on June 7, 1914.<ref>Isachsen, Haakon W (editor): ''Knoll og Tott – 100 år i Norge'' (Egmont Serieforlaget, 2011), p. 97.</ref> It was called ''The Captain and the Kids'' from 1918 on. ''The Captain and the Kids'' was very similar to ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' in terms of content and characters, but Dirks had a looser and more verbal style than Knerr, who on the other hand often produced stronger, more direct gags and drawings. ''The Captain and the Kids'' soon proved equal in popularity to ''The Katzenjammer Kids''. It was later distributed by the [[United Feature Syndicate]], while Hearst's King Features distributed ''The Katzenjammer Kids''.<ref name=lambiek/>

===1950s to the present===
''The Captain and the Kids'' expanded as a [[daily strip]] during the 1930s, but it had only a short run. However, the [[Sunday strip]] remained popular for decades. From 1946, Dirks' son, [[John Dirks (cartoonist)|John Dirks]], gradually began doing more of the work on ''The Captain and the Kids''. They introduced new characters and plots during the 1950s, including a 1958 science fiction storyline about a brilliant inventor and alien invasions. Even as John Dirks took over most of the work, Rudolph Dirks signed the strip until his death in 1968. John Dirks' drawing shifted slightly towards a more square-formed line, though it maintained the original style until ''The Captain and the Kids'' ended its run in 1979.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eckhorst |first=Tim |year=2012 |title=Rudolph Dirks – Katzenjammer, Kids & Kauderwelsch |publisher=Deich Verlag |location=[[Wewelsfleth]] |lang=de |isbn=978-3-942074-05-6 |page=100}}</ref>

Knerr continued drawing ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' until his death in 1949; the strip was then written and drawn by [[Doc Winner|C.H. "Doc" Winner]] (1949–1956), with [[Joe Musial]] taking over in 1956. Musial was replaced on ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' by Mike Senich (1976–1981), Angelo DeCesare (1981–1986), and [[Hy Eisman]] (1986–2006). Now syndicated in reprint form, the strip is distributed internationally to some 50 newspapers and magazines.<ref>{{cite web |title=A profile of Hy Eisman |series=Hogan's Alley #15 |website=Cartoonician |url=http://cartoonician.com/getting-hy-on-comics-a-profile-of-hy-eisman/ |access-date=November 17, 2014 |archive-date=November 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112131226/http://cartoonician.com/getting-hy-on-comics-a-profile-of-hy-eisman/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Eisman reused a lot of old gags and stories in later years.