Krazy Kat — The Washington Times, January 12, 1919

This Sunday page from *The Washington Times* preserves the full ecosystem of the American newspaper comic section at its creative peak. George Herriman's Krazy Kat occupies the left margin in its characteristic vertical strip: the lovesick cat rhapsodizes while Ignatz Mouse lurks, the minimalist Arizona desert implied in a few brushstrokes. Surrounding it are Harry Hershfield's *Abie the Agent* — whose Jewish protagonist spoke in Yiddish-inflected English, a rare sympathetic ethnic portrayal — Walter Hoban's *Jerry on the Job*, and Cliff Sterrett's *Polly and Her Pals*, whose bold decorative linework would later influence Art Deco illustration. These syndicated Sunday pages, printed in broadsheet before dedicated comic books existed, invented the visual grammar — repeating characters, sequential panels, speech balloons — that the comic book industry would directly inherit and repackage in the late 1930s.