Smitty — Caught in a Lie

This four-panel strip follows Smitty, a mischievous office boy, through a rapid escalation of social consequence. In the first panel, Smitty spreads gossip about job cuts; Stanley objects, vouching for his friend's honesty. By panel three, the rumor has reached Smitty himself through office channels, and in the final panel, Stanley confronts him as the boss summons Smitty upstairs. The strip exemplifies the visual economy of early newspaper comics: distinct panel borders guide the eye through narrative time, speech balloons anchor character voice, and exaggerated expressions convey emotional beats. Recurring characters like Smitty populated the daily and Sunday pages, where readers followed their misadventures week after week. Such strips established the visual grammar—sequential panels, word-image integration, comedic timing through layout—that became the foundation of the comic book medium.