Nobody—By Meek

This comic strip demonstrates the visual conventions that defined early newspaper comics: sequential panels with speech balloons, recurring character types, and sight gags built on wordplay. The humor hinges on the pun embedded in the character's name—when asked his identity, "Nobody" answers literally, producing physical comedy through the visitor's bewilderment. The two-panel structure was typical of daily strips that appeared in papers alongside news and advertisements. Meek's clean linework and expressive figure drawing show the influence of vaudeville and music-hall comedy, visual traditions that shaped how early cartoonists staged gags for maximum impact. This strip exemplifies how newspaper comics developed their own grammar of timing, character, and joke construction during the medium's formative decade.