Polly and Her Pals — 1922-05-08

Four panels track a domestic eruption: Pa is hurled bodily from the kitchen by an unseen cook, crockery sounds rendered in bold onomatopoeia (BAM! CLATTER! KLINK! KLANK!), while Polly looks on. A visiting gentleman asks how long the cook has been with them; Pa, rumpled on the floor, deadpans: *She's been agin me from the start, son.* Cliff Sterrett's draftsmanship is characteristically loose and kinetic — thick outlines, expressive squash-and-stretch figures, speech balloons integral to panel composition. Launched in 1912, *Polly and Her Pals* was among the earliest newspaper strips to exploit sequential panel rhythm and recurring ensemble characters, directly shaping the visual language that daily syndicated strips bequeathed to the comic-book form.