Gene Ahern's Otto Auto is a reflection of the era's growing obsession with automobiles. The strip is set up on a simple premise, Otto loves to drive and refuses to let anything slow him down. Readers were invited to suggest situations that would cause Auto to stop, with fun being had in the inventive ways Otto overcomes potential pitfalls. In early 1920 Otto announces that he will finally stop, at which point the comic takes on a more traditional gag-a-day feel with Otto fixing cars at his garage instead of racing them around the world.