ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

The Newly Weds' Baby Improves Da Da's Selfishness

· 1907

The Newly Weds' Baby Improves Da Da's Selfishness
This Sunday strip follows a young couple and their infant through domestic comedy. The husband, initially reluctant about fatherhood, gradually softens as the baby charms him with new shoes and innocent behavior. By the final panels, he's won over—though the joke turns on the baby eating the theater tickets mama bought for papa's show. Newspaper comics of this era established the visual language still used today: sequential panels, speech balloons, recurring characters in domestic situations. Sunday pages like this one, appearing in color in newspapers nationwide, reached millions and became the direct precursor to comic books. Artists developed sight gags, timing through panel progression, and character development across multiple frames—techniques that defined the medium for generations to come.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain