Did you know that Mutt and Jeff is roundly considered to be the first successful daily comic strip? The 1907 creation of Bud Fisher, the panel newspaper comic made its debut in The San Francisco Chronicle.
Though some consider Mutt and Jeff to be the first ever panel style daily, Claire Briggs' strip, A. Piker Clerk, appeared in 1904. However, Briggs' strip was not nearly as well-received or as long-running as Fisher's.
Initially, Mutt was the sole star of the series. Jeff didn't appear until five months in the strip's run. Before Jeff's arrival, the series was called A. Mutt and focused on Mutt's racetrack gambling and nagging wife.
Before newspapers had a comics section, Mutt and Jeff appeared in the sports pages.
Jeff soon came to represent the American dream and the ironic striving of the common man--from humble beginnings in a mental health institution, he quickly became known as the first "toon" to be nominated for U.S. President.
Mutt and Jeff enjoyed one of the longest runs of any comic strip in history, with 75 years under its belt when it last appeared in 1982. After Fisher's retire from the strip, it was taken over by one of his more dedicated assistants, Al Smith, who worked tirelessly on the stories from 1932 to 1980.
Mutt and Jeff also appeared in DC, Dell and Harvey Comics between the 1930s and 1960s. They even left a lasting pop culture coloquialism in their wake: "Mutt and Jeff" is often used to describe a tall and short pair.