The Pranks of Pantomime Pete

This six-panel strip follows Pete, a silent-comedy character, as he deploys an oversized cone to play pranks on a cow and farmhand. The sequential narrative—each panel advancing the gag through action and reaction—demonstrates the visual storytelling techniques that newspaper comics inherited from theatrical pantomime and music-hall comedy. Speech balloons give way to physical comedy and wordless sight gags. The recurring character, simple line work, and grid layout exemplify the Sunday newspaper comic format that emerged in the 1890s, establishing the visual grammar later adopted by comic books: discrete panels, clear continuity, and character-driven humor that required no text to communicate across America's immigrant audiences.