Before the Flood

This Sunday comic strip by John B. Gruelle depicts a chaotic scene of prehistoric creatures and cavemen discovering written correspondence. The composition fills the page with overlapping figures, speech balloons, and physical comedy—a hallmark of early newspaper comics. Characters gesture wildly, shout reactions like "BUNK!" and "HIT 'IM AGAIN!," and interact across multiple sight lines, creating visual density without formal panel divisions. The strip exemplifies how cartoonists of this era adapted vaudeville humor and slapstick timing to the sequential art format. Gruelle's loose, expressive line work and his integration of text and image throughout the space demonstrate techniques fundamental to comic strip language that would influence the medium for decades.