Polly and Her Pals — July 25, 1922

Cliff Sterrett's *Polly and Her Pals* launched in 1912, making it one of the longest-running early newspaper strips. This four-panel daily titled "The Sacrifice Would Be Worth It" shows a suitor boldly telling Polly he'll kiss her when he leaves the house; she throws him out bodily — fulfilling his plan at the cost of a bruising landing. Sterrett's draftsmanship is fluid and kinetic: expressive faces, stuttering dialogue balloons, and a final slapstick tumble rendered with sharp brushwork. Newspaper dailies like this one were the direct precursor to the comic book — syndicates packaging reprints into pamphlets through the 1920s–30s established the page format, recurring cast, and sequential visual grammar that defined the medium.