Bringing Up Father — 1925-03-07

Four panels follow Jiggs, the newly-rich Irishman in top hat and checked suit, as a friend tempts him downtown to Rowan's Ball. Jiggs hatches a plan: slip inside, ask Maggie's permission, be back in minutes. Panel four delivers the payoff — an enormous 'NO!' bursts through the wall while Jiggs tumbles out, stars orbiting his head, his friend watching dryly. McManus's line work is confident and economical: exaggerated silhouettes, bold speech balloons, and a sight-gag finale that needs no explanation. *Bringing Up Father* launched in 1913 and ran in hundreds of papers worldwide, making Jiggs and Maggie among the first globally recognised comic characters. Daily strips like this one — syndicated, sequential, built on a recurring cast — directly shaped the anthology reprint format that became the comic book.