From the exhibition
Monkeyshines of Marseleen
· October 11, 1908

A Sunday newspaper comic strip featuring Marseleen, a character in a spotted costume riding a bicycle through a series of slapstick mishaps. The six-panel sequence uses the visual grammar pioneered by newspaper comics: panel borders, speech balloons, and sequential action to unfold a brief comic narrative. The strip employs physical comedy typical of early 1900s newspaper humor, with exaggerated poses and collapsing contraptions. This page exemplifies the Sunday supplement format that became the foundation of American comic books, where artists developed recurring characters and visual storytelling conventions that would define the medium for decades.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain