From the exhibition
Foxy Grandpa and Smart Uncle Alex
· August 23, 1905

This Sunday strip follows the episodic format that defined early newspaper comics: six sequential panels depicting escalating physical comedy as Grandpa and Uncle Alex perform a series of acrobatic stunts and tricks, surprising both the boys and each other. The strip employs the essential visual vocabulary established by comic pioneers—bordered panels, speech balloons, and recurring characters in domestic settings. The gag structure relies on wordless action and exaggerated body positions, typical of the slapstick humor that entertained readers across the country. These newspaper Sunday pages served as laboratories for visual storytelling, developing the panel-based narrative techniques that would become the foundation of the comic book medium.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain