Where are the old farts with the well of ancient cartoon lore? Hmph, Pogo (in syndication since 1949) http://www.pogopossum.com/ is older than Peanuts (1950)... Google says: Herriman's Krazy Kat http://www.krazy.com/ (1911 or 1913), Opper's Maud the Mule http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/03/77/76/image_176773.jpg (1904), Swinnerton's Little Bears http://www.comic-art.com/bios-1/swinrtn1.htm (1892 or 1893 or 1894). Could be others, not counting Disney.

This site has a small visual sample of old comic art. http://www.aktv.lt/~skrusna/istorija/istorija.htm