Polly and Her Pals — 1922-08-24

Four panels track a verbal sparring match between Pa, the stout and flustered family patriarch, and a fashionably dressed young woman (Tillie) over slang. Pa objects to her use of "bum," she retorts that "bum means punk," he demands she explain "punk," and she obliges — by dumping a bucket of water over his head, with the punchline *"Punk means bum!"* Sterrett's linework is crisp and expressive, with rubbery limbs and exaggerated reaction poses that anticipate later animated cartooning. Launched in 1912 in the *New York Evening Telegram*, *Polly and Her Pals* was among the earliest strips to develop consistent recurring characters and a domestic comedy formula. Daily strips and Sunday pages like this one directly shaped the anthology reprint format that became the American comic book by the mid-1930s.