Stepbrothers

Gene Carr's *Stepbrothers* demonstrates the visual storytelling conventions that emerged in early newspaper comics. The strip follows two boys and their elderly uncle through a sequence of misadventures—here, a ladder accident that escalates across eight panels. Carr employs consistent character design, sequential panel layout, and speech balloons to convey narrative and humor. The domestic setting and physical comedy typified Sunday supplements of the era, which served as laboratories for developing the visual grammar later adopted by comic books: the regulated panel grid, expressive faces, and action lines that guided readers' eyes through time and space.