Origins of the Sunday Comics by Peter Maresca for July 29, 2013

Bowling in 1896!

Everybody makes a big deal out of the Yellow Kid. The gal in the huge bonnet is just as expressive, but she never got any press.

Look Close on the far lane—The original smiley face.

This new series might be worth following if

1. It they supercharged the magnifier so it would be big enough to read.

2. If I had an extra 25 minutes to read it all.

Good points, Ben! As the series continues pages have a bit less detail.

Hey Lindsey – You may be on to something! Wikipedia says the first use of the smiley face was in 1948. This one has that beat by more than 50 years!

Say Zuhlamon — stay tuned…coming in two weeks is an 1898 Sunday comic poking fun at Edison and Tesla.

wow, I had to make it bigger and still hard to read it all. I wonder why the yeller kid just wears nightshirt?This is a real good bit of history.

I hope you keep running this series for a long time, it’s a great look at strips we wouldn’t see otherwise.

This cartoon has a gutter in it on the far right side including vertical text identifying it as a gutter.

I hope this isn’t the end of this series. I( like reading about the history of these comics. Maybe some of these comics can be put here on a regular basis?

To Buzz and Katina:This series will run for a year or so, with new entries every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and, of course, Sunday. Some weeks an extra page will be thrown in as well.