goops

in addition to his purple cow poem, gelett burgess is chiefly remembered nowadays for his goops books. goops were bald, boneless, childlike gremlins that wore edwardian garb and were rude to adults. the goops were a kind of anti-hero meant to show children the repercussions of being naughty and disrespectful, but really they were basically my role models.

the above image is taken from his book, goops and how to be them (1900). the concept proved so successful that burgess followed it with a dozen more books all taking place in his goopsiverse. the franchise itself is still in print and it even has—gasp—a twitter feed.