Bringing Up Father — 1919-07-03

George McManus's *Bringing Up Father* follows Jiggs, a newly rich Irish-American laborer, and his socially ambitious wife Maggie. In this four-panel daily, the couple sit on a beach; Jiggs sulks and wants to go home while Maggie rhapsodizes over the ocean's grandeur. A statuesque woman in a swimsuit strolls past, and Jiggs suddenly finds the scenery quite agreeable — until Maggie drags him away. McManus's draftsmanship is clean and confident: bold outlines, spotted blacks, patterned fabrics, and expressive silhouettes. Launched in 1913 and syndicated internationally by the International News Service, the strip ran until 2000. Along with *Mutt and Jeff* and *Krazy Kat*, it helped establish the daily comic strip's visual grammar — sequential panels, speech balloons, and recurring characters — that directly seeded the comic book format emerging in the 1930s.