From the exhibition
Johnny Quack and the Van Cluck Twins
· August 22, 1909

A newspaper comic strip featuring anthropomorphic ducks in a nine-panel grid. Johnny Quack, a duck character wearing a hat, encounters the round-bodied Van Cluck twins through a series of escalating gags: the twins appear immobilized, then Johnny attempts various rescue methods—pushing, pulling, dunking in water—each effort comically backfiring. The strip employs the visual conventions established by early comic pioneers: sequential panels with speech balloons, exaggerated proportions for comedic effect, and recurring characters. Published during the Sunday newspaper era when comics were the primary mass medium for visual narrative, before the comic book format emerged in the 1930s.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain