From the exhibition
Reg'lar Fellers
· June 9, 1925
Gene Byrnes's *Reg'lar Fellers* follows Jimmy and his gang through four-panel gags rooted in childhood mischief and family life. Here, Jimmy's boast about his ancestors' portraits provokes a practical bet—and escalates into requests for pirates and paint-covered ancestors as decoration. The strip's humor relies on quick escalation and visual slapstick, rendered in Byrnes's energetic crosshatching and expressive figures. *Reg'lar Fellers* appeared in newspapers from 1917 onward, helping establish the daily comic strip as a form distinct from single-panel cartoons. Byrnes's work influenced the visual grammar of sequential art: panel progression, speech balloons anchoring action, and the recurring child character whose schemes drive narrative momentum.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain
