Bringing Up Father — February 9, 1925

Six panels follow Jiggs as a quarrel between Maggie and their daughter grates on his nerves. Hearing Maggie's voice through a doorway, he assumes she'll be sensible and make peace; she does, graciously taking the blame for 'silly words.' The strip closes with Maggie inviting her daughter to bring her husband over so she can apologize — Jiggs, expecting vindication, is left deflated. McManus's line is fluid and confident, his black-cat running gag threading every panel. Bringing Up Father launched in 1913 and ran for decades, syndicating globally and cementing the domestic-comedy strip as a newspaper staple. The daily strip format McManus perfected — recurring cast, compressed narrative, punchline landing in the final panel — became the direct structural model that early comic-book editors would repackage into anthology form by the 1930s.