Ophelia, By Dwiggins

This Sunday comic strip by Clare Briggs protégé Dwiggins features Ophelia, a mischievous character whose chaotic energy drives the humor. The strip uses the visual conventions of early newspaper comics: a large central figure surrounded by smaller vignettes, speech balloons, and expressive linework. A small figure holds a flower and declares "Here's one no don't," while Ophelia clutches a large black book reading "Cheer up! Ef yer in bad brake out with laffer." The strip exemplifies how daily and Sunday newspaper comics established the visual grammar—recurring characters, panel arrangement, and sequential narrative—that would become foundational to the medium. By 1911, comic strips were replacing illustrated prose and shaping how readers consumed humor and story.