George McManus (1884–1954)

Third series contains only Bringing Up Father; 46 four panel strips.
Each one is a beautifully balanced line work creation, which frames and makes into a tableau another of Jiggs' small battles for survival. Makes the same point as Certeau's Ordinary Lives only twice as elegantly and with deep humour. Unlike other family life strips each character has a depth and strength; we may laugh at Maggie but we understand her, and as Mcmanus on occasion reminds us, she has a heart of gold.
I love this show more strip - one of the greatest humour strips of all time. show less

A nice sampler of various comic strips, mostly of the humourous type. There are some adventure/dramatic strips included. Unfortunately these are not complete (usually only one or two episodes) so one does not get a complete story. The other problem with this issue is that it is in tabloid format but then has to be turned on its side to be read. This is decidedly awkward.

"Bringing Up Father" (for some reason, perhaps contractual, the title is not mentioned in this book) was a not particularly pleasant, occasionally funny comic strip that lasted over 40 years from 1918 on. Jiggs was an Irish gadabout who loved his saloons and playing cards with the boys, married to Maggie who became a shrewish social climber when Jiggs struck it rich. Some of the earlier strips show their happier life together when they were poor. The strip was much more popular than it show more deserved to be. show less

A collection of George McManus' pre-1920 "Bringing Up Father" strips, along with a few selected earlier strips: "Panhandle Pete", "The Newlyweds and Their Baby", "Their Only Child" and "Rosie's Beau". Never cared much for McManus' work, but I do admit that he was historically influential and of interest to that extent.