Smithsonian Collection - The Naps of Polly Sleepyhead (4 points)

  Out of the Smithsonian Collection, I found The Naps of Polly Sleepyhead to be the most interesting to read. The strip featured was a total of 9 single panels, with the dialogue/description of what was going on under each panel. The comic strip follows Polly and her various dreams. In this particular strip, she hangs out with her friend the Joker and Chit Chat, and goes to pick up the 'rabbit plant'. only to wake up to find the rabbits freaking out.

The first thing that struck me about this comic strip was the format. I've seen comic strips with this format before, but usually, they also had a speech bubble or a sound effect somewhere within the panel. The other thing that was striking was the creepy atmosphere of the comic. There's something unsettling about the designs of every character in this, including the main character Polly. Especially in the third panel, where Polly is depicted with black eyes (possible due to printing quality or something along those lines). One thing this comic strip reminded me of was silent films. Silent Films were officially introduced in 1903, so they were still relatively new. But the way that the text below the panels is written is similar to the way silent film depicted some of its dialogue. The differences come with the text describing the comic itself, like the feelings of the characters and the plot of the situation. Overall, I found this comic interesting due to the format and it's use of text outside the panel instead of within the panel.