Smitty

This daily strip follows the physical comedy and scheming of an office boy navigating workplace life. The narrative unfolds across four panels: a character plots to make his boss gain weight to reconsider marriage; he steps on a scale and discovers three-pound weight gain; colleagues discuss his mysterious pockets filled with peanuts and candy; the boss threatens revenge. The strip employs the visual vocabulary that defines newspaper comics—sequential panels, speech balloons, and a recurring cast of characters in familiar settings. Office-boy comedies were staples of the dailies, offering readers relatable humor centered on workplace hierarchies, petty schemes, and physical gags. Through strips like this, artists established the formal language of comics that would anchor the medium for decades.