Splinters by Steinigans

This Sunday comic strip follows a fisherman and his dog through a series of mishaps at the water's edge. The narrative unfolds across six panels using the sequential storytelling conventions that became standard in newspaper comics: discrete rectangular frames, speech balloons, and a recurring cast of characters. The pup's interference transforms a quiet fishing expedition into escalating chaos—a simple gag structure repeated throughout early newspaper strips. Steinigans employs bold black lines and high contrast to suit newspaper reproduction, techniques that would prove essential to comic art. Such strips were the direct predecessors to the comic book format, establishing visual grammar and audience expectations that persist today.