Nobody by Meek

This two-panel strip demonstrates the visual economy of early newspaper comics. In the first panel, a woman discovers an intruder under her bed; in the second, the figure beneath—rendered as a vagrant or tramp wearing a top hat—responds to her alarm by simply stating "NOBODY!!" The joke plays on the double meaning of the word and the absurdity of the situation. The strip employs the fundamental grammar of sequential art: distinct panels, speech balloons conveying character voice, and exaggerated expressions to communicate comedy. Such strips appeared daily in newspapers nationwide, establishing the conventions that would define comic books and graphic narratives for generations to come.