Bringing Up Father — 1925-09-01

Four panels follow Jiggs, the Irish immigrant turned nouveau-riche social climber, at the seashore. In panel one he spots a woman alone and talks himself into approaching her. Panel two shows him waddling over in swimwear, resolving to open with weather talk. Panel three delivers the gag: he is confronted by a crowd of her male admirers, collectively carrying a dartboard-like shield, and can only react with a question mark. Panel four has Jiggs retreating in disgust. McManus's line work—rounded, buoyant figures, precise checked suits, expressive balloon lettering—was among the most polished in daily syndication. *Bringing Up Father* launched in 1913 and ran for decades, its recurring cast and domestic comedy directly modeling the strip formula that anthology reprint publishers would package into the first true comic books through the 1930s.