Pioneering the tiny animal | Selling the city | Cartoon journalism | Selling participation
The tiny talking animal has been a standard vehicle for biting realist commentary throughout the history of the strips.
A sense of urban reality and community proved to be one of the most valuable commodities the yellow press had to offer.
Participation in a common spectacle helped urban sports fans create a sense of community.
Sports cartoonists functioned as journalists, narrating real events to their readers.

Thomas Aloysius Dorgan, cartoon, "The Pirates Grab A Few Goats, Too," New York Evening Journal 10 July 1909. Reproduced from microfilm.