He Was Just a Little Bit Deaf

A farmer's attempt to herd goats backfires when his repeated shouted instructions—misheard or ignored—result in the animals trampling him into the mud. This strip exemplifies early newspaper comic narrative: sequential panels advancing a simple, physical gag through speech balloons and visual progression. The recurring rural setting and animal characters reflect the period's popular humor. The artist uses crosshatching and bold linework typical of Sunday supplements, establishing the visual conventions that shaped the emerging comic book form. Animals as stand-ins for human folly became a staple of the newspaper funny pages that preceded and directly informed comic book storytelling.