Polly and Her Pals — 1922-12-23

Cliff Sterrett launched *Polly and Her Pals* in 1912, making it one of the longest-running continuity-comedy strips in American newspaper history. This daily shows Pa slumped in his armchair, broke, while the sharp-tongued Polly is persuaded to hock her fur coats and tea gowns to shore up the household budget — only for Pa to triumphantly reclaim two dance frocks he had given her, landing back in his chair with a satisfied *Plop*. Sterrett's draftsmanship is assured: fluid brushwork, expressive silhouettes, speech balloons integrated naturally into the compositions. Strips like this — syndicated daily to millions — formed the direct visual template from which comic books, reprinting newspaper pages, would emerge in the 1930s.