Bringing Up Father — buf430801f

Twelve panels follow Jiggs's tearful farewell to Blimp, the family dog, as wife Maggie forbids the pet in their new home. The strip tracks a full comic arc: Jiggs's guilty departure, Maggie's dawning remorse, her weeping soliloquy on the sofa, and Blimp's triumphant scratch at the door. McManus's line is fluid and decorative — Art Nouveau curves in the furniture, hatching that models weight and shadow — while speech balloons carry the entire emotional load. Bringing Up Father, launched in 1913, ran for nearly ninety years and was among the first American strips syndicated worldwide. Its recurring characters and serialized domestic comedy were blueprints for the comic-book format that followed, proving the Sunday page could sustain character, continuity, and genuine pathos alongside the gag.