Polly and Her Pals — 1922-09-04

In this four-panel daily, the stout, checkered-suited Paw argues with a garage mechanic over car repairs, storms off insisting he knows as much as any fool mechanic, then triumphantly presents his automobile — only to be asked, sheepishly, whether he can say the word *engine*. Polly herself appears only in the opening panel, registering exasperation at the door. Sterrett's draftsmanship is precise and kinetic: characters lean, gesture, and tumble with vaudeville physicality, while speech balloons carry vernacular spelling that drives the comic rhythm. *Polly and Her Pals*, launched in 1912 by the New York *Evening Telegram*, became one of the first newspaper strips to develop a recurring cast with consistent personalities — exactly the serialized character logic that would define the comic book format when reprinted strips were bound and sold as pamphlets through the 1930s.