Just Boy—Elmer Hits the Hay, but Not to Sleep

This Sunday strip follows young Elmer's misadventure trying to sleep in a haystack. The narrative unfolds across six panels in a grid layout typical of 1920s newspaper comics, using speech balloons to convey dialogue and inner monologue. The strip demonstrates the visual conventions that had crystallized by the early 1920s: sequential panels advancing a single gag, expressive character drawing, and varied panel sizes for pacing. The humor derives from physical comedy and Elmer's mounting frustration as hay proves less comfortable than anticipated. Such strips, syndicated across multiple newspapers, were foundational to American comics, establishing the recurring character and joke-per-installment format that would influence the comic book medium.