Skippy was an American comic strip written and drawn by Percy Crosby that was published from 1923 to 1945. A highly popular, acclaimed and influential feature about rambunctious fifth-grader Skippy Skinner, his friends and his enemies, it was adapted into movies, a novel and a radio show. It was commemorated on a 1997 U.S. Postal Service stamp and was the basis for a wide range of merchandising that includes Skippy peanut butter.

An early influence on cartoonist Charles Schulz and an inspiration for his Peanuts,[1] Skippy is considered one of the classics of the form. In Vanity Fair, humorist Corey Ford described it as "America's most important contribution to humor of the century",[2] while comics historian John A. Lent wrote, "The first half-century of the comics spawned many kid strips, but only one could be elevated to the status of classic... which innovated a number of sophisticated and refined touches used later by Charles Schulz and Bill Watterson...

Skippy started in 1923 as a cartoon in Life and became a syndicated comic strip two years later through King Features Syndicate. Creator Crosby retained the copyright, a rarity for comic strip artists of the time.

The syndicated strip was enormously popular, at one point guaranteeing Crosby $2,350 a week,[4] an enormous sum in those days. Always Belittlin' and other topper strips ran above Skippy on Crosby's Sunday page.

Grosset & Dunlap published Crosby's Skippy novel in 1929. There were Skippy dolls, toys and comic books.

The 1931 film was one of the first films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. For his performance, Jackie Cooper, at the age of nine, became the youngest person to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Director Norman Taurog won the Academy Award for Directing.