From the exhibition
Bringing Up Father
George McManus · April 30, 1922

George McManus's *Bringing Up Father* follows Jiggs, a newly wealthy Irish immigrant, and his ambitious wife Maggie navigating upper-class society. This strip exemplifies the visual language that shaped comics: sequential panels with speech balloons advance narrative and gags through economical drawings and clear staging. The humor turns on class collision—Jiggs's working-class tastes clash with Maggie's social pretensions across domestic scenes, streets, and fancy venues. Originally a newspaper strip, *Bringing Up Father* helped establish the grammar of panel-based storytelling that became foundational to comic books.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com Public domain