Exploding Cigar Comic

This newspaper comic by Fontaine Fox depicts a recurring gag: Ed Alverson receives an exploding cigar as a Fourth of July prank. The strip shows multiple characters with exaggerated features typical of early 20th-century cartooning, their faces rendered in caricatured style common to the era. Fox employs the visual conventions that defined newspaper comics: sequential panels, speech balloons, motion lines, and repeated characters. The final panel reveals Ed's response—defensive precautions against future pranks. Such strips populated Sunday pages and dailies nationwide, establishing the visual grammar and comedic timing that would become foundational to comic book art. The humor relies on slapstick tradition and audience familiarity with characters and their predictable foibles.