Bringing Up Father — buf391109

Three panels follow Jiggs, the newly-rich Irish-American social climber, as a friend schemes to keep him and wife Maggie away from the opera — only for the final panel to reveal the couple already seated in the house, Maggie basking in the audience's applause at what she calls her "last appearance this season." The gag turns on domestic one-upmanship, the strip's engine since George McManus launched it in 1913. McManus's line work is immediately recognizable: fluid Art Nouveau curves, elegantly dressed figures, and meticulously rendered interiors. *Bringing Up Father* was among the first strips syndicated coast to coast, and its recurring cast, consistent visual grammar, and cliff-hanger daily rhythm directly shaped the anthology format that became the comic book.