Polly and Her Pals — July 8, 1922

In this four-panel daily strip by Cliff Sterrett, Pa Perkins attempts to crank-start an old automobile. The car erupts in a cacophony of bangs, pops, and backfires rendered in exuberant hand-lettered sound effects that fill the panel like visual percussion. A woman calls from an upstairs window asking what's happening; Pa, now sprawled on the ground, announces the car is simply gone. Sterrett launched *Polly and Her Pals* in 1912, and by the early 1920s his draftsmanship had grown remarkably inventive — bold geometric forms, dynamic staging, and expressive lettering that directly influenced later comic artists. These syndicated newspaper dailies, circulated nationally, were the direct precursor to the comic book format, establishing the sequential panel grammar still in use today.