Sunday Comic Section — St. Louis Republic

This newspaper Sunday section from 1902 demonstrates the early visual language of sequential comics. The page features multiple strips with recurring characters, speech balloons, and panel-based storytelling—the formal conventions that would define the medium. The lower portion showcases winners of a color-page contest, reflecting how Sunday newspaper comics were among the first mass-produced color illustrations in America. These pages, distributed weekly to millions, established the economic and cultural foundations for the comic book industry. The strips employ simple line work and exaggerated character types typical of the era, including ethnic caricatures that reflected contemporary newspaper humor practices.