Bringing Up Father — 1925-08-12

Four panels follow Jiggs, the stout Irish-American social climber, plotting revenge against a noisy upstairs neighbor. In panel one he vows to force an apology; panel two shows him practicing tuba for three hours—his chosen weapon of noise. He brightens in panel three at the doorbell, certain it's the neighbor ready to grovel. The punchline lands in panel four: it's only a delivery man asking Jiggs to accept a telegram for the very neighbor he's been tormenting. McManus's draftsmanship—fluid ink lines, expressive faces, clean gag architecture—exemplifies the daily newspaper strip format that directly fed the first comic books, which were largely reprinted newspaper pages. Syndicated from 1913 by King Features, *Bringing Up Father* established the recurring domestic-comedy character whose recognizable silhouette could carry a strip without introduction.