From the exhibition
Brainy Bowers Was an Impartial Judge
· September 18, 1904

This Sunday strip follows Brainy Bowers, a recurring character who resolves disputes among street urchins through comical judgments. The six-panel layout uses sequential art to build narrative: Bowers hears competing claims, renders absurd verdicts, and faces consequences. The strip exemplifies early newspaper comics' reliance on slapstick resolution and visual gags—pratfalls, exaggerated expressions, and physical comedy. Speech balloons carry quick dialogue while drawings convey action across panels. Such strips populated Sunday supplements and daily papers, establishing the visual and narrative conventions that would define the emerging comic book medium: panel borders, recurring characters, and humor dependent on both image and text working in tandem.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain