The Newlyweds

George McManus's *The Newlyweds* exemplifies the newspaper comic strip's visual invention: six panels per row using sequential art to chronicle domestic comedy. A couple navigates married life—laundry, visitors, childcare—through sight gags and dialogue balloons. McManus's clean line work and panel grid structure became foundational grammar for American comics. Sunday strips like this, distributed nationally through syndication, reached millions and established recurring characters and ongoing situations as the medium's core appeal. The form emerged from earlier newspaper humor and adventure sequences, crystallizing into the format that would eventually spawn comic books themselves.