Ophelia and Her Slate

This Sunday comic strip by Dwiggins demonstrates the visual conventions that shaped early newspaper comics. The page uses a grid layout with varied panel sizes, speech balloons, and recurring characters—Ophelia and her classmates—to build narrative momentum across the page. Dwiggins employs physical comedy and sight gags typical of the era: a slate bearing daily affirmations, children in chaos, slapstick action with playground equipment. The strip illustrates how Sunday pages functioned as both entertainment and serialized narrative, establishing visual grammar—sequential panels, expressive caricature, integrated text and image—that would become the foundation of the comic book medium.