Billy Bounce, Part 1

W.W. Denslow's *Billy Bounce* follows an orphan boy equipped with a magical hot-air suit that lets him bounce a mile at a time. This early comic strip demonstrates the visual conventions emerging in Sunday newspaper supplements: sequential panels, speech balloons, caricatured figures, and a recurring protagonist. Denslow, known for his *Wizard of Oz* illustrations, uses exaggerated facial expressions and dynamic poses to convey slapstick action. The strip's narrative unfolds across discrete frames with explanatory text below, a format that would become standard in comic books. Here, Billy's fairy godfather Mr. Gas introduces the bouncing suit, setting up the adventure plot that drives the ongoing serial.