From the exhibition
The Strange Adventure of Frappe, the Snowman, and His Papa
· March 19, 1905

This six-panel Sunday strip follows Frappe, a mischievous snowman, and his interactions with a small boy and adult figure. The narrative unfolds through sequential panels divided by clear borders, employing speech balloons to carry dialogue and advance plot. The artist renders the characters with bold outlines and heavy cross-hatching typical of early 1900s newspaper illustration. The strip exemplifies the visual conventions that emerged in Sunday newspaper comics—episodic gags, recurring characters, and a layout designed for the broadsheet page. By 1905, newspaper comic sections had become essential to circulation, and artists refined the formal language of panels and speech that would define the medium for decades.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain