Comic strips are an enduring unique point in American newspapers. Almost all American newspapers devote at least one page of every daily issue, and several of every Sunday issue, to humorous or dramatic stories, presented in comic form, which is to say that visual representations of actors in the strips (portrayed sometimes realistically and sometimes abstractly, in a humorous fashion) communicate thoughts by writing on the page, and the passage of time is indicated by progression from one "panel" of a comic to another.
Often referred to as "the Funny Pages" or "the Funnies," American comic strips are a staple of popular culture.
The origin of the comic strip dates from the early 1800s, but it gained popularity in its modern form in the late 1800s with "The Yellow Kid," which was the first to feature balloons for containing the words spoken by characters.