The Top o' the Mornin'

W. D. Nesbit's *Top o' the Mornin'* exemplifies the Sunday newspaper comic supplement at its height. The page combines multiple narrative strips—"Budding Greatness," "Lost Opportunity," "Little Henry's Slate," and others—with joke panels and illustrated humor columns. Each strip employs sequential panels, speech balloons, and recurring characters like Henry and the Monkey, establishing visual conventions that would define comic art. The dense layout, mix of sentimental and slapstick narratives, and integration of text and image reflect how newspapers used comics to build circulation. These Sunday pages served as the direct precursor to the comic book format, proving that sequential art could sustain reader loyalty across multiple installments.