From the exhibition
Madge, The Magician's Daughter
· Sunday, February 17, 1907

This Sunday page from *The Fort Worth Telegram* follows Madge as she attempts a magic trick involving summoned elephants. The strip displays the visual conventions emerging in early newspaper comics: sequential panels showing cause and effect, speech balloons advancing narrative and gag, and a central character reappearing across frames. The top tier presents the setup in four vignettes; the lower section reveals the punchline—real elephants in ceremonial dress arriving instead of butterflies. The style reflects the pen-and-ink illustration tradition while employing panel borders and layout to guide reader attention, techniques that would become foundational to comic books as a distinct medium.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain