Still eight years from Krazy and Ignatz, there is a vitality of movement to Herriman’s work which is hard to find elsewhere this early in the twentieth century. These early strips, in general, not just his, had a combination of violence and gentleness which seems a bit alien over a hundred years later.
I haven’t seen (or paid much attention to) pre-Krazy Herriman. This is a beautiful page. One can feel how “Fas-t-e-r” the car is going.