From the exhibition
Fluffy Ruffles
· 1908

Wallace Morgan's *Fluffy Ruffles* follows a spirited young woman navigating college life and social reform. The strip employs the visual conventions that defined early newspaper comics: multiple panels arranged to guide the reader's eye, speech balloons carrying dialogue and narration, and recurring characters whose personalities anchor the narrative. Morgan's ink drawings render gesture and expression with economy, establishing character through posture and costume. The Sunday page format permitted extended storytelling across varied panel sizes, allowing for both comedic beats and social commentary. Newspaper strips of this era functioned as the direct ancestors of the modern comic book, establishing sequential art as a distinct medium for humor and social observation.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain