Outbursts of Everett True

This two-panel gag strip follows Everett True, an irascible character who responds to everyday annoyances with exaggerated, destructive outbursts. In the top panel, True attacks a fire hydrant with a stick while an onlooker flees the resulting spray. The second panel shows the consequences: True and another figure are drenched as water floods the street. The strip exemplifies early newspaper comic conventions—recurring protagonist, sequential narrative across panels, and visual slapstick humor. Artist James Swinnerton pioneered this daily format in the 1890s, establishing the visual vocabulary that would define comic strips: panel borders, expressive linework, and character-driven comedy. *Outbursts of Everett True* ran from 1904 to 1927, demonstrating how newspaper comics became a distinct art form distinct from single-panel illustrations, laying essential groundwork for the comic book medium that followed.