The Soap Museum

Characters from Gasoline Alley, a long-running comic strip created by Frank King. According to Wikipedia, it was first published on November 24, 1918. Widely recognized as a pioneering comic strip, Gasoline Alley was perhaps the first comic to depict its characters aging as the years progressed. The early years were dominated by the character Walt Wallet. The Tribune's editor, Captain Joseph Patterson, wanted to attract women to the strip so it was decided to introduce a baby. The only problem was that Walt was a confirmed bachelor. This obstacle was overcome when, on February 14, 1921, he found an abandoned baby on his doorstep. The baby was called Skeezix (slang for motherless calf), and he called his adopted father Uncle Walt. Unlike most comic strip children (like the Katzenjammer Kids or Little Orphan Annie) he did not remain a baby or even a little boy for long. He grew up to manhood, the first occasion where real time continually elapsed in a major comic strip over generations. By the time the United States entered World War II, Skeezix was a fully-grown adult, courting girls and serving in the armed forces. He later married Nina Clock and had children. In the late 1960s he faced a typical midlife crisis. Walt Wallet himself had married Phyllis Blossom and had other children, who grew up and had kids of their own.