Judge, 1907-12-28 · page 10 of 17
Judge — December 28, 1907 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a six-panel comic strip from Judge magazine (copyright 1907) featuring "Nervy Nat," a recurring character who appears to be a working-class or lower-class man making an uninvited New Year's social call on wealthy people. The satire centers on **class contrast and social climbing**: Nat crashes a New Year's party at an upscale home, where he's neither wanted nor belongs. The humor derives from his audacious behavior—offering to "stir" drinks, angling for hair tonic, and making inappropriate astronomical observations—while his hosts attempt polite tolerance of his intrusion. The final panels suggest consequences: Nat gets thrown out by police ("Biff! Bang! Bing!"), and he resolves to avoid "punch, cops and maids" in the new year 1908. The strip mocks both Nat's presumption in gate-crashing and, implicitly, the pretentious courtesy of the wealthy trying to maintain composure around an unwanted guest. It's humor derived from social transgression and class-based embarrassment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
t year has undoubtedly . [have been kept somewha punch, did you ask? Avec vy Nat—"* Yes; ead allow me to stir it for you—it would be a pleasure, | assure you. In the meantime I'll slip myself a bottle of this halr-tonic."* thot? Oi wor at th’ lobshter It Ah, yes: I see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and the milky way! . see; it was like this: Punch, bright lights, at be the Fourth of July. How foolish of me to mistake It for The clock struck twelye—no; as I remember now, it stru juary first!" For the year 1908 I eschew punch, cops and maids." ‘Te cop— Biff! Bang! Bing! Bing!" Twe uato—" Help!" NO. 30.—NERVY NAT MAKES A NEW-YEAR'S CALL; LIKEWISE SOME RESOLUTIONS. COPYRIGHT 1907 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISWERS, 225 FOURTH AVE, NEW YORK. NOTE —The First Series of Nervy Nat's Adventures ts now ready, handsomely bound, tm book-form, Price, 75 centay 10 cents additional for postage when ordered by mail. Address JUDGE COMPANY, 225 Fourth Avenue, New York. comicbooks.com