Bringing Up Father — buf430801f

Twelve panels follow Jiggs's tearful farewell to Blimp, the family dog, as wife Maggie forbids the pet in their new home. The strip tracks a full comic arc: Jiggs's guilty departure, Maggie's dawning remorse, her weeping soliloquy on the sofa, and Blimp's triumphant scratch at the door. McManus's line is fluid and decorative — Art Nouveau curves in the furniture, hatching that models weight and shadow — while speech balloons carry the entire emotional load. *Bringing Up Father*, launched in 1913, ran for nearly ninety years and was among the first American strips syndicated worldwide. Its recurring characters and serialized domestic comedy were blueprints for the comic-book format that followed, proving the Sunday page could sustain character, continuity, and genuine pathos alongside the gag.