both versions stopped abruptly after only three years in early 1898, as circulation wars between the rival papers dwindled. Moreover, Outcault may have lost interest in the character when he realized he could not retain exclusive commercial control over it. The Yellow Kid's last appearance is most often noted as 23 January 1898 in a strip about hair tonic. On 1 May 1898, the character was featured in a rather satirical cartoon called Casey Corner Kids Dime Museum but he was drawn as a bearded, balding old man wearing a green nightshirt which bore the words: "Gosh I've growed old in making dis collection." The Yellow Kid appeared sporadically in Outcault's later cartoon strips, most notably Buster Brown. Yellow journalism The two newspapers that ran the Yellow Kid, Pulitzer's World and Hearst's Journal American, quickly became known as the yellow kid papers. This was contracted to the yellow papers and the term yellow kid journalism was at last shortened to yellow journalism, describing the two newspapers' editorial practices of taking (sometimes even fictionalized) sensationalism and profit as priorities in journalism.The "New" Journalism, W. Joseph Campbell. Retrieved 10 October 2014 Merchandising The Yellow Kid's image was an early example of lucrative merchandising and appeared on mass market retail objects in the greater New York City area such as "billboards, buttons, cigarette packs, cigars, cracker tins, ladies' fans, matchbooks, postcards, chewing gum cards, toys, whiskey and many other products". With the Yellow Kid's merchandising success as an advertising icon, the strip came to represent the crass commercial world it had originally lampooned. Other versions Entertainment entrepreneur Gus Hill staged vaudeville plays based on the comic strip. His version of McFadden's Flats was made into films in 1927 and 1935. The Yellow Kid made an appearance in the Marvel Universe in the Joss Whedon-written Runaways story (volume 2, issue 27). In this take on the character, he exhibits superhuman powers. In the Ziggy of 16 February 1990, Ziggy points to a smiling old man seated next to him on a park bench and says, "No kidding... You were The Yellow Kid!" Legacy The Yellow Kid Awards are Italian comics awards presented by the International Cartoonists Exhibition and distributed at the annual Italian comic book and gaming convention Lucca Comics & Games. See alsoAlly SloperHistoire de M. Vieux BoisMax and MoritzThe Katzenjammer KidsThe Little BearsLittle Nemo'' Alfred E. Neuman Platinum Age of Comic Books