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Not so much a comic strip as a few sketches of a pretty flapper slightly related to text of a missive sent to a friend, our newest addition is a bit of an oddball. This one seems to have had a bit of an identity crisis early on, as the the title goes through several variations before settling on From Sue to Lou; the earliest strips we have go by Penelope’s Postals, as seen above, despite the fact that the letters are clearly intended for Lou as written by her friend Sue and at no point does a Penelope enter the picture. Sue’s messages often paint her as a dimwit and put her squarely as the butt of the joke, though I imagine her to have an irreverent, self-effacing sense of humor; I’m sure she is fully aware of the punchline she’s sending. And while the text and pictures may not always directly relate, I picture her writing these letters in her head as she carries on whatever actions we might see her performing in the strip, putting a funny spin on the day’s events for her pal back home. Perhaps I’m reading too much into these.

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More newspaper headlines with that most Important Mr. Peewee, this time by Ferd Long in a strip that was most often titled “A Few More Lemons at a Cent Apiece“. This run, however, eschews the narrative-driven comic strip format, focusing solely on the fantastic and misleading headlines. It’s a shame, really; Mr. Peewee was an interesting little character, but here he’s relegated to reaction shots. If the newspapers acted as the Greek Chorus to Peewee’s pitfalls in his strip, here the tables have turned and it’s Peewee who’s relegated to standing to the rear of the stage and pointing out the jokes. Still, the headlines were always a fun part of the last feature, and they still are here.

Lazyest Gallery cannot access Billy Bowwow/

Here we have another daily strip from the very dawn of newspaper comics. It ran alongside The Importance of Mr. Peewee, though with a more irregular schedule, giving it a place in the first handful of comic dailies. Unlike the somewhat obscure premise of Peewee, Billy Bowwow‘s themes and gags are universal: a would-be paramour, an anthropomorphized King Charles Spaniel, attempts to court a pretty pug. Each strip is capped off with some violence done to our poor protagonist, reminding me of Mr. Jack. But where Mr. Jack, the indefatigable rake, usually has it coming to him, Billy seems to get the short end of the stick merely by possessing the temerity to pursue his love’s object. Poor fella!

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Here we have a bona fide historical event for you! By most accounts, The Importance of Mr. Peewee is reckoned to be the first daily comic strip in history, and I’ve gotta say that I haven’t come across anything to dispute the claim in my combing of newspaper archives. The strip itself is probably not going to knock your socks off; it’s efficiently rendered, and the gags are OK, but the central premise is a tad obtuse to modern eyes.

Mr. Peewee is a diminutive fellow with outsized pretensions, making wild boasts about his titular importance. Meanwhile, sensational newspaper headlines act as a Greek Chorus, providing commentary on Peewee’s pretense and comeuppance. These headlines are really the stars of the strip; they’re very funny in a Mad Magazine sort of way, with an attention-grabbing lead which is shown to be overblown by the subhead, which is often inserted into the middle of the headline like so: BOILERMAKER EATS (supper with) HIS MOTHER! It’s a fun and clever indictment of the “Yellow Journalism” era of newspaper sensationalism, and it’s worth reading the strips just for the headlines.