Militant Mary

A single-panel comic strip featuring a resolute female character in glasses and a long dress, armed with a rifle and binoculars. The strip employs direct address and threat-humor: the protagonist warns girls to enjoy their summer freedom now, as she plans to join them next week and "steal your beaux away." The gag plays on the era's anxieties about independent women and shifting gender roles. Drawn in simple, bold linework typical of early newspaper comics, the strip demonstrates the medium's reliance on recurring character types, speech balloons, and punchy text-and-image combinations that defined the visual language of pre-1920s comic strips.