Bud 'n' Bub: Before the Radio

Ed Kressy's *Bud 'n' Bub* strip demonstrates the visual storytelling techniques foundational to American comics. The narrative unfolds across six panels using speech balloons, captions, and sequential imagery to convey a time-travel scenario. Two boys overhear radio broadcasts of ancient communications—drum signals, smoke signals, beacon lights, telegraph, and telephone—prompting them to journey backward through history. The strip employs recurring child characters, comic exaggeration, and a linear narrative arc typical of newspaper Sunday pages. Panel borders, varied compositions, and integration of dialogue with action established the visual grammar that would become standard in comic books and strips throughout the twentieth century.