The main reason studios based early animated films on print comics was a lower financial risk. Printed comics like Felix the Cat were already increasingly popular and therefore recognizable to the general public. Creating animated films was expensive so if the audience was already available, they were more likely to turn up a profit than if they used all new characters or stories. The character’s familiarity also ensured that people would respond better to seeing a medium they did not have much. if any, exposure to beforehand.
Another reason animated films were based on comics was because of the visual aspect. Comics are a series of sequential drawings made to tell a story just as films are a series of moving photos. Since most animators were former illustrators and cartoonists, animation essentially created a smoother transition from one scene to another.
