Illustrating Webster

This single-panel comic by Frank L. Santon illustrates the word "hysterogenic"—capable of producing hysteria. Two rotund figures flank a primitive washing machine; the man on the left addresses the woman on the right with exaggerated gestures, proposing they perform a maxixe (a Brazilian dance) while she operates the device. The gag hinges on the domestic chaos and physical comedy of dancing while doing laundry.

Newspaper comics of this era appeared as single panels or short strips in the Sunday and daily pages, often tethered to word-of-the-day features or humor columns. Artists like Santon employed speech balloons, caricatured figures, and visual sight gags—the fundamental grammar that would define the medium. These comic panels were the immediate predecessors to the comic books that emerged in the 1930s, establishing the visual and narrative conventions still in use today.