Mutt and Jeff — 1910-01-23

Seven panels track the lanky Mutt alone in a European train compartment, relishing the space — until a portly gentleman repeatedly squeezes in with an apologetic *Pardon, monsieur!*, each entry displacing more luggage and dignity until the carriage erupts in cartoonish chaos. Fisher's loose brushwork, expressive silhouettes, and escalating slapstick are already fully formed. Bud Fisher launched *A. Mutt* in the *San Francisco Chronicle* in 1907 — one of the first daily strips built around a single recurring character — and soon added the short, bowler-hatted Jeff. Syndicated nationally, the strip helped establish the daily comic as a storytelling unit: sequential panels, speech balloons anchoring voice to figure, and a cast readers followed across years. That infrastructure became the blueprint for the comic book itself.