Mutt and Jeff — 1910-01-19

Bud Fisher's *Mutt and Jeff* is among the earliest daily comic strips to sustain recurring characters across continuous story arcs — a structural invention that made the modern comic book possible. This strip runs seven panels: the lanky, scheming Mutt bribes his way into serving as valet to England's king, planning to exploit the position for access and cash. Small Jeff wakes the monarch with 'Your Worship, your baath is ready,' then flees — apparently out a castle window — when the king reacts with fury. Fisher's draftsmanship is economical: loose ink line, readable silhouettes, speech balloons integrated tightly into the panel grid. Launched in the *San Francisco Chronicle* in 1907, *Mutt and Jeff* pioneered the horizontal daily strip format that syndicates carried nationwide, cementing the visual grammar — sequential panels, balloon dialogue, cliffhanger continuity — that newspaper pages handed directly to comic books.