A. E. Butzin—Makes a Noise Like a 'Bare'!

This Sunday comic strip demonstrates the visual vocabulary taking shape in early-twentieth-century newspaper comics: multiple panels advancing a narrative, speech balloons capturing character voices, and a recurring cast in comic situations. The strip follows a domestic mishap as characters attempt a nighttime picnic disrupted by what they believe to be a bear. Butzin's composition uses panel borders and sequential staging to control pacing and reveal the joke. The crowded, energetic linework and slapstick premise reflect the popular humor of the newspaper Sunday pages, where comics emerged as a distinct narrative form alongside illustration and typography.