From the exhibition
The Teasers: The Kids Get Ahead of Bobby
· April 1, 1906

This Sunday strip follows a familiar newspaper comic formula: recurring child characters scheming to outwit one another through pranks and tricks. The six-panel layout uses speech balloons and sequential action to build gags around an April Fools' Day setup, where "The Kids" attempt to fool "Bobby" before he fools them. The artistic style—bold linework, expressive faces, dynamic poses—typifies early 20th-century newspaper comics, which pioneered the visual language of sequential storytelling: panel division, word-image integration, and character continuity across installments. These Sunday pages and daily strips formed the direct predecessor to the comic book format, establishing the medium's fundamental vocabulary and proving that serialized illustrated humor could sustain reader interest week after week.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain