Bobby Make-Believe

This Sunday strip follows young Bobby's imagination as he dreams of piloting Santa's sleigh across snowy rooftops. The narrative unfolds through sequential panels that establish Bobby's fantasy: he takes the reins of reindeer, navigates by the stars, and delivers gifts to sleeping children below. The strip employs the visual conventions that had become standard in newspaper comics—speech balloons, varied panel sizes, and recurring characters—to move readers through a child's holiday daydream. The artist uses heavy inking and strong blacks to create contrast in the nighttime scenes, while the lower panels show Bobby back in reality. Strips like this one were the direct predecessors of comic books, establishing how sequential art could tell complete stories in the newspaper Sunday pages.