Old Doc Yak

This Sunday page features Old Doc Yak, a goat character created by Sidney Smith, navigating a Christmas visit with recurring human and animal cast members. The strip employs the visual language becoming standard in newspaper comics: bordered panels arranged in sequence, speech balloons advancing plot and gag, and expressive line work distinguishing characters within crowded domestic scenes. Smith's work exemplifies the Sunday page format—larger, more detailed than weekday strips, with opportunities for elaborate visual gags and ensemble casts. Old Doc Yak ran from 1912 to 1918, part of the wave of animal-protagonist strips that helped establish the newspaper comic as a distinct medium with its own grammar of narration and humor.