Judge, 1898-10-22 · page 16 of 16
Judge — October 22, 1898 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel satirical comic mocks consumer fraud and cheap goods. A man purchases an inexpensive suit ($2.97) advertised as "warranted not to fade," believing he's getting a bargain compared to a $40 quality suit. The joke unfolds as the suit visibly changes color—appearing black, then blue, then green, then red—in successive panels. Each character (a tailor, a friend, the purchaser) notices different colors, suggesting the dye is unstable and the garment is deteriorating rapidly. The final panel shows the suit has fallen apart into rags and debris, with the man barely visible in a window, commenting it's "lucky I got in before this last change"—implying even more rapid deterioration is occurring. The satire targets both consumer gullibility (buying suspiciously cheap goods) and unscrupulous manufacturers who make false quality claims. It's a straightforward morality tale: you get what you pay for.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1 “This suit looks nice. As you say it won't fade I'll take it. Send my old clothes homie, please. What's the use of paying forty dollars when you can get a suit like this for two dollars and ninety- seven cents?” MI. “*T surely must have been mistaken ; it is evidently green.” VL. “Well, it’s lucky I got in before this last change.” ‘SochettA Wibelna Ao & Pig Co. Kew York THE TALE OF A SUIT. WARRANTED NOT To FADE. “*T belleve l've been swindled ; it's red!” SOPYRIONT BOB RY ARK ELL PUBLISKING COMPAWY OF KEW TORR. comicbooks.com