From the exhibition
Salesman Sam
· February 10, 1925
A Sunday page from the daily strip *Salesman Sam*, which ran from 1921 to 1935. The strip follows Sam, a brash traveling salesman, through schemes and misadventures. Here, Sam pursues a reluctant customer, employing the physical comedy and rapid sight gags typical of the era's newspaper comics. The strip's panel structure—sequential scenes with speech balloons advancing the narrative—exemplifies the visual language that newspaper comics established in the 1920s. *Salesman Sam* populated the funny pages alongside strips like *Gasoline Alley* and *The Katzenjammer Kids*, establishing recurring characters and recurring settings as the foundation of serialized comic storytelling. The exaggerated poses and density of action reflect the influence of vaudeville and silent film on comics' visual grammar.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain
