Judge — May 1, 1926 — page 32: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a reader-participation contest page from *Judge* magazine. The publication invites readers to complete an unfinished three-panel comic strip (Contest No. 40) for a $25 prize—substantial money in the early 20th century. The existing panels show slapstick comedy: a character with a hat and what appears to be a cat are ejected from a doorway; next, chaos erupts in clouds (possibly a dream sequence or heaven); finally, a figure with a telescope appears to be looking through a wall. The joke setup is nonsensical physical comedy typical of the era—the humor comes from absurdist situations rather than social commentary. Readers were challenged to invent a punchline that would make sense of this deliberately absurd sequence. This format reflects *Judge*'s interactive approach to humor and was common in early 20th-century magazines, predating modern comic strips' narrative continuity.