Bringing Up Father — buf400903

George McManus launched *Bringing Up Father* in 1913, and by 1940 it ran in hundreds of papers worldwide. This three-panel daily follows Jiggs and his wife Maggie in full nautical costume; she demands he adopt 'proper yachting terms,' he obliges with mock-captain bluster, and the final panel delivers the familiar payoff: Maggie has bought a yacht without telling him, and his horrified reaction ends with the strip's signature pratfall stars and impact lines. McManus's draftsmanship is distinctive — sinuous Art Nouveau ornament framing domestic farce, elegantly dressed figures drawn with confident brushwork. Strips like this one are the direct ancestors of the comic book: syndicated newspaper pages established the panel grid, the speech balloon, and the recurring cast that define sequential art.