Sunday Comic Section — St. Louis Republic

This 1902 Sunday newspaper page demonstrates the visual conventions that shaped early comics: multi-panel strips with speech balloons, recurring characters in domestic and adventure scenarios, and sequential narrative flow. The sections combine humor strips, sports commentary, and illustrated news stories—a format that would evolve into the modern comic book. The newspaper Sunday funnies served as the primary laboratory where artists developed the visual grammar of comics: panel layouts, perspective, character design, and timing through image sequence. These Sunday sections reached mass audiences and influenced generations of cartoonists who would pioneer the medium.