From the exhibition
Etta Kett by Paul Robinson
· 1938

A daily strip following the escapades of Etta Kett, a young woman navigating romance, family, and social situations. Robinson's four-panel format uses overlapping dialogue and expressive linework to build comedic timing across the strip. Each panel advances the gag through character reaction and verbal punchlines—a structure pioneered in 1920s newspaper comics. Etta Kett ran as both a daily and Sunday feature, exemplifying how newspaper strips of this era served as the direct visual and narrative precursor to the comic book medium. The recurring cast, episodic humor, and standardized panel grid became foundational grammar for comics that followed.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain