From the exhibition
The Adventures of Patsy
· Early 1940s

This newspaper comic strip follows Patsy through domestic comedy centered on food and social gatherings. The four-panel sequence shows Mr. Wiggs apologizing for a missed lunch invitation, then inviting Patsy and Tatters to join him and another guest for dumplings. The strip employs the visual vocabulary established by comic pioneers: distinct panel borders, speech balloons carrying dialogue, expressive caricature, and a recurring cast of characters. Patsy strips appeared in daily and Sunday newspapers, part of the vast network of comic features that predated the modern comic book. These newspaper strips were the true origin of sequential art in America, teaching readers to follow action across panels and establishing the language that comic books would inherit and expand throughout the twentieth century.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain