Smitty — Fair Game

This Sunday strip follows Smitty and his boss through four rapid-fire panels of escalating comic business. A hunter named George arrives with tall tales of woodland exploits, prompting the boss to ask what brings him to the city. The punchline lands when George reveals he's trapped the boss himself. The strip employs the visual conventions established in early newspaper comics: distinct panel borders, expressive figure work, speech balloons anchoring dialogue, and a repeating cast of characters. Smitty ran as both daily and Sunday strips, helping define the template for humor comics that dominated American newspapers from the 1920s onward. The brisk pacing and physical comedy demonstrate how newspaper strips translated vaudeville and silent-film gags into sequential art.