Salesman Sam: "Can't Blame Him"

A four-panel strip following Sam's escalating mishaps at work. When a colleague asks why Sam's having trouble, Sam blames the traffic lights—each time he loads the truck, the signal turns red, drawing the officer's attention. The gag accumulates visual chaos: scattered packages, exasperated bystanders, and Sam's mounting frustration. The strip demonstrates the rapid-fire comic timing of early newspaper dailies, where sequential panels build a joke through repeated action and reaction. Artist Small's energetic linework and crowded compositions typify the slapstick humor that made newspaper comics a mass medium, establishing visual conventions—speech balloons, action lines, expressive caricature—that became the foundation of comic book storytelling.