Old Opie Dilldock's Stories

This Sunday newspaper comic strip follows Old Opie Dilldock through six sequential panels of slapstick adventure. The protagonist tumbles from a horse, sneaks into the White House, escapes from cannibals, and survives various explosions and mishaps. The strip employs the visual conventions that became standard in early comics: bordered panels arranged in grid formation, speech balloons containing dialogue, and exaggerated caricature drawing. Published in the Tribune Company's Chicago edition, it exemplifies the Sunday supplement comic strips that served as direct predecessors to the comic book format, establishing recurring characters and episodic storytelling in a framework that would define the medium for decades.