Smitty

This strip follows the office escapades of Smitty, a mischievous office boy whose pranks drive his boss to exasperation. Here, Smitty orchestrates a classic gag: he convinces coworkers the boss has a surprise, then switches off the lights to create chaos. The three-panel structure moves swiftly from setup through execution to punchline, employing the visual conventions pioneered in newspaper comics—clear panel divisions, speech balloons, and sequential action. *Smitty* appeared in daily and Sunday papers throughout the Depression era, showcasing how newspaper comics had become a standardized medium with recurring characters, predictable gags, and mass appeal. The strip's humor trades in office-worker frustration and juvenile rebellion, reflecting both the paper's audience and the emerging visual language that would define comic books.