Bud Fisher
Mutt and Jeff ● August 17, 1919
Newspaper Tear Sheet
Courtesy of Peter Maresca

Some cartoon historians credit Mutt and Jeff with making the comics topical. For example, in 1908 Mutt was the first comic strip character to run for president, and a series in the 1920s found him training to fight the soon-to-be heavy weight champion Max Schmeling. 

[The Sunday Mutt and Jeff debuted in 1918, eleven years after the daily first ran in the San Francisco Chronicle.]