Those Kids Next Door

A Sunday comic strip featuring Nippy and neighborhood children in a six-panel sequence. The strip employs the visual conventions emerging in early newspaper comics: sequential panels advancing a simple narrative, speech balloons capturing dialogue, and recurring child characters in domestic and outdoor settings. Pop attempts to keep Nippy quiet by having him play a horn indoors; the children next door, startled by the noise, retaliate with their own horn. The escalating gag—a back-and-forth noise competition—relies on pantomime and physical comedy. The artist uses bold black silhouettes for depth and movement. By 1913, Sunday newspaper comics had become established entertainment, developing the panel layouts, character continuity, and visual storytelling grammar that would define the medium and eventually influence comic book design.