ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

The House of Mirth

· March 11, 1906

The House of Mirth
This Sunday comic strip employs the visual language that newspaper cartoonists developed in the 1890s: rectangular panels advancing a sequence of gags, speech balloons carrying dialogue, and a recurring cast of exaggerated character types. The protagonist visits an establishment called "The House of Mirth," where he encounters various mishaps played for physical comedy. The artist uses blacks and grays to create depth and movement, while dense linework conveys action and emotion across six panels. By 1906, the Sunday pages had become vehicles for both narrative serialization and self-contained gag strips, establishing conventions that would anchor comic books when they emerged as a medium in the 1930s.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain