From the exhibition
Sunday Comic Section
· August 25, 1918

This Sunday newspaper page from 1918 demonstrates the comic strip's place as the dominant visual entertainment of the American press. The layout combines poetry, illustrated jokes, and sequential comic narratives—each with distinct panel borders, speech balloons, and recurring characters. By this period, the Sunday comics had become standard features in major newspapers, establishing the visual conventions that would define the medium: multi-panel layouts advancing narrative, character consistency across installments, and integration of text and image. These strips appeared alongside news and advertising, making comics accessible to mass audiences and establishing the formal vocabulary that would eventually structure comic books.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain