Bringing Up Father — buf370829

Four panels track Jiggs, the parvenu Irish-American in top hat and tails, as he attempts street photography. Panel one: he spots a scene down Main Street and raises his camera. Panel two: he frames his shot, crowing that it will be "swell." Panel three: distracted, he steps into an open manhole — PLOP! — camera and dignity gone. Panel four: soaked and disheveled against a brick wall, he vows to give up photography. George McManus drew Bringing Up Father for King Features Syndicate from 1913 until his death in 1954, making it one of the longest-running strips in American newspaper history. McManus's fluid brushwork, bold blacks, and precise timing across sequential panels exemplify the daily comic strip's role as the direct ancestor of the comic book format.