And They Get By With It (The Ear Specialist)

E.C. Segar's comic strip depicts a visit to an ear doctor, where pseudoscientific diagnosis and slapstick remedy collide. The doctor's elaborate anatomical monologue—invoking the labyrinth, eardrum, and inner canal—contrasts sharply with his treatment: ink injections and mechanical devices that reduce the patient to helpless gyration. The six-panel layout uses speech balloons and sequential action to build comedic timing, while the doctor's final claim of a cure hinges on the patient's induced deafness. Published in newspapers as a Sunday feature, such strips formed the visual foundation of modern comics: recurring characters, panel progression, and word-image integration that would define the medium for generations.