Bringing Up Father — buf371202

Four panels follow Jiggs, the Irish-American social climber created by George McManus, as his wife presents him a box of cigars sent by her sister Kate — a woman he assumed despised him. His surprise melts into guilty remorse, then satisfaction as he lights up, only to conclude in the final panel, smoke curling grotesquely, that Kate's gift confirms her contempt after all: "those cigars would kill a horse." McManus's draftsmanship is instantly recognizable — rounded figures in formal dress, Art Nouveau architectural flourishes, and immaculate linework. Launched in 1913, *Bringing Up Father* ran for decades and was among the daily newspaper strips whose panel-and-balloon conventions directly shaped the comic book format that emerged commercially by the late 1930s.