Barney Google — The Washington Times, October 17, 1920

Twelve panels follow the bug-eyed, derby-wearing Barney Google as he takes a job managing a café, only to watch a diner refuse to pay — claiming the food fails his standards. Barney's solution: force the man to eat until convinced. The gag escalates through a waiter brawl, a mass walkout, and Barney left flat on the pavement while his cashier scheme collapses. Billy DeBeck draws with loose, rubbery figures and crisp crosshatching; speech balloons carry the rhythm of vaudeville timing. King Features Syndicated Sunday pages like this one were the direct precursor to the comic book: the page layout, the recurring cast, the panel-to-panel visual grammar — all developed here, on newsprint, before any stapled pamphlet existed.