[jrasicmark]

Joe, I'm curious, since you've seen the original comic, can you confirm or deny the comment above yours that states the first page of the story is missing?
The first story page posted here does seem a bit abrupt of a starting point, and there is no splash page as is usually common, even in golden age comics. So it's possible it's correct that maybe the first page is missing. But, on the other hand, I've read this is based on a comic strip, and a post on Reddit claims the comic book reprints the strip, so I wouldn't be too surprised if that's exactly how the comic strip began.

Link to the comment: Tommy of the Big Top 11