Comic Strip in the Sierra Madre News

This newspaper page from 1921 features "The Army of the Disabled Keeps Growing," a visual narrative combining illustration and text to address postwar veteran welfare. The strip's sequential panels and integrated typography—speech balloons, captions, and hand-lettered commentary—exemplify how early-twentieth-century newspapers used comic conventions to tackle social issues. By 1921, Sunday comics had become central to newspaper circulation, with artists developing the visual language of panel borders, character consistency, and narrative flow that would define comic books. This page demonstrates how the newspaper comic served simultaneously as entertainment and social advocacy, reaching broad audiences with accessible storytelling during the Depression era's growing awareness of disabled veterans' needs.