Polly and Her Pals — PO350102

Cliff Street (a pen name used on this strip) draws four horizontal panels of slapstick confusion: a character sneaks a sandwich to 'Eats' Elmer at what appears to be a grandfather clock, the food promptly vanishes, and the final panel erupts into chaotic accusation — someone hollers about burglars while figures tumble in a heap. The thick brushwork, exaggerated tumbling bodies, and stacked speech balloons are hallmarks of the daily newspaper strip format that directly seeded the comic book. *Polly and Her Pals*, created by Cliff Sterrett in 1912, pioneered recurring ensemble casts and increasingly abstract, Cubist-inflected backgrounds. These syndicated dailies were the raw material later reprinted in anthology comic books, making strips like this foundational documents of a new American art form.