Judge, 1903-04-04 · page 16 of 16
Judge — April 4, 1903 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a slapstick comedy strip about a hapless character named Unlucky Luke who repeatedly fails at employment. The six-panel sequence shows him attempting work as a railroad engineer: he expresses desire for the job, claims experience running the Empire State Express, attempts to operate a large locomotive, but through incompetence causes a catastrophic explosion (panel 5: "BANG!"), ending with him fired again. The humor relies on physical comedy and the absurdist premise of someone spectacularly failing within minutes. This 1903 Judge comic reflects period attitudes toward industrial labor and incompetence, using exaggerated visual gags typical of early twentieth-century American comics to satirize both worker unreliability and the dangers of railroad operations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
5. 6. F BANG! Untucky Luxe—" Out of a job again!" UNLUCKY LUKE—HE HOLDS A JOB FOR ALMOST TEN MINUTES. COPYRIONT 1903 BY JUDGE COMPANY CF NEW YORK: Sackett & Widens Lhe B Pig Co New York,