Polly and Her Pals — c. 1914

Cliff Sterrett's *Polly and Her Pals* launched in 1912 as one of the first newspaper strips centered on a young woman and her comic household. This daily strip, titled "Pa Keeps His Word—But Gets the Flavor," runs five panels: Pa has sworn off tobacco for a year, so when he craves a smoke he enlists a young fellow to blow cigar smoke directly into his face through a long tube — honoring the letter of his vow while inhaling every puff. Stars burst from his eyes; smoke billows in clouds. Sterrett's confident crosshatching, expressive silhouettes, and rhythmic panel flow exemplify the newspaper daily's role as the true cradle of sequential-art grammar — recurring characters, escalating gags, and the speech balloon as narrative engine.