Stepbrothers

Gene Carr's *Stepbrothers* follows two boys navigating domestic friction and outdoor mischief. This Sunday strip demonstrates the visual conventions consolidating in early-1910s newspaper comics: sequential panels with consistent character design, speech balloons advancing plot, and sight gags (a ball bouncing through windows, children at play). The strip's narrative structure—domestic setup leading to escalating chaos—became standard in Sunday funnies. Carr, working in the era when newspaper comics were establishing themselves as a distinct medium, employed the vocabulary of panels and balloons that would define comic art for generations. The six-panel layout and varied perspectives show the grammar of sequential storytelling still taking form.