Polly and Her Pals: Complete Sunday Comics 1913-1927 (Polly & Her Pals)
Sterrett�s comic strip about the glamorous Polly, her coterie of suitors, and her exasperated parents debuted in December 1912; by the late 1920s�the era represented by the preponderance of the color Sunday pages collected in this oversize volume�the narrative focus had shifted to Polly�s improbably dumpy folks, particularly cantankerous Paw. More importantly, Sterrett�s artwork had acquired a dazzling sophistication. Although he seldom deviated from an orderly grid of uniformly sized panels, what he did within those frames was stunning. His boisterous drawings evinced a decidedly modernist influence, even incorporating elements of cubism and other contemporary art trends. As marvelous as Sterrett�s visuals may be, Polly wouldn�t be such a tour de force if its humor wasn�t so lively and its characters� dialogue, with its Jazz Age patois, so snappy. The early years of newspaper comics produced a handful of widely acknowledged masterworks, such as Little Nemo and Krazy Kat; this impressive collection makes a convincing case that Sterrett�s creation should be added to that honor roll. --Gordon Flagg