Bringing Up Father — buf390909

Four horizontal panels follow Jiggs, the Irish-immigrant social climber created by George McManus, as he cheerfully packs light for a trip — "a trunk, a suit-case, and a bag — just enough" — only to be commandeered by his formidable wife Maggie, who dispatches him to haul out her mountain of luggage instead. The strip closes with a deadpan punchline: "Would you mind bringing back a newspaper and some string?" McManus's line work is elegant and economical — Art Nouveau curves in the furniture, crisp speech balloons, precise staging across panels. Launched in 1913 for King Features Syndicate, Bringing Up Father ran for nearly a century and belongs to the generation of daily newspaper strips — alongside Krazy Kat and Little Nemo — whose panel grids and recurring characters directly shaped the comic book as a form.