Smitty

This strip follows the daily misadventures of Smitty, an office boy navigating workplace mishaps and human folly. The narrative unfolds across four panels using speech balloons and sequential action: a boss discovers his gardener's troubled past, confides in an employee about the man's blank mind, welcomes the gardener's return home, and presents a small figurine as a gesture of encouragement. The strip employs the visual conventions pioneered in newspaper comics—panel borders, interior monologue, and recurring character types—that became foundational to comic book language. Published in newspapers as both dailies and Sunday pages, Smitty exemplifies how early comic strips developed running gags and workplace settings, establishing narrative rhythm and character development that directly influenced the emergence of the modern comic book form.