The Newlyweds

George McManus's *The Newlyweds* follows a young couple and their baby through domestic mishaps. Here, Papa attempts to swat flies while the baby naps, only to disturb the household—a gag built on visual slapstick and the clash between domestic order and chaos. McManus uses bold black silhouettes for depth and employs sequential panels with speech balloons to drive narrative momentum. The strip exemplifies how newspaper comics of this era established the visual language later adopted by comic books: recurring characters, panel-to-panel flow, and humor rooted in relatable family situations. *The Newlyweds* was among the most popular strips of its time, demonstrating comics' growing appeal to mass audiences through accessible, episodic storytelling.