From the exhibition
Mr. Wad
· January 7, 1913
A six-panel Sunday comic following Mr. Wad's misadventure with what he believes are chickens in the snow. The strip employs sequential narrative across panels with speech balloons and sound effects to build comedic momentum—a character mistakes frozen clothes or objects for live poultry, leading him on a chase through various locations. The ink linework and cross-hatching are typical of early newspaper comics, which established visual conventions: uniform panel borders, expressive character poses, and escalating physical gags. Newspaper strips like this one formed the foundation of comic art, teaching readers to parse time and action across sequential frames.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain
