Mr. Happihome by Walter Wellman

A domestic comedy strip following the misadventures of its titular character. The narrative unfolds across nine panels: Mr. Happihome attempts to purchase umbrellas at Smith & Jones, discovers a special sale at a local establishment, positions an umbrella indoors, and finally steps out into heavy rain without his umbrella—left behind and forgotten. Wellman employs the visual conventions emerging in newspaper comics: consistent character design, sequential panel layout, speech balloons advancing plot and gag, and domestic settings. The strip exemplifies early-twentieth-century Sunday page humor, where repetitive situations and simple sight gags drove readership. Such strips, distributed nationally through syndication, established the visual language that would define comic books: panel borders, action flow, and character consistency that taught readers to follow narrative across space and time.