Charlie Chaplin Up in the Air

In 1917, M. A. Donohue & Co. published a single comic book issue adapting Charlie Chaplin’s silent film Up in the Air, capturing the slapstick charm of the iconic Tramp character in a static, illustrated format. While the series never continued beyond that lone issue, it stands as an early example of a movie-to-comic adaptation, bridging the worlds of early cinema and sequential art. The issue is most notable for its era—a time when comic books were still finding their footing—and for preserving Chaplin’s physical comedy in a medium that relied on panel-to-panel storytelling.