From the exhibition
Being As This Is the Last Day of the Rodeo, Mr. Titus Wad Tried to Pull Something!
· February 17, 1913
A Sunday comic strip by Gale featuring the hapless Mr. Titus Wad attempting rodeo stunts with predictably chaotic results. The strip demonstrates early newspaper comic conventions: sequential panels advancing a single gag, speech balloons carrying extended dialogue, and a recurring protagonist in comic predicaments. Wad's exaggerated postures and the bucking horse's wild energy showcase the physical comedy tradition inherited from vaudeville and dime novels. By 1913, such strips had become standard features in Sunday papers, establishing the visual and narrative grammar that would define comic art for generations—panel borders, word-image integration, and character-driven humor across multiple frames.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain
