Bringing Up Father — 1919-07-21

Five panels follow Jiggs and Maggie strolling past a building where a couple argue loudly through a window. The strip opens with Maggie wishing they could be like 'the Smiths — without always quarreling'; Jiggs, ever the voice of mild irony, says he's in favor of it. They call on the ideal couple, only to find them mid-screaming-match — insults flying in jagged speech balloons packed with exclamation marks and stars. The final panel shows our pair retreating fast. McManus's line work is crisp and confident: thick ink contours, patterned costumes, and expressive body language carry the comedy without a wasted mark. *Bringing Up Father*, syndicated from 1913, was among the first strips to build global readership through recurring domestic characters — its visual rhythm of setup, reversal, and exit panel became a template that shaped comic-book storytelling for decades.