Judge, 1927-05-28 · page 12 of 36
Judge — May 28, 1927 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page from *Judge* satirizes the celebrity and cultural dominance of cartoonist Mike McQuigg. The main narrative describes how McQuigg's comic strips became a global phenomenon—millions read his work daily, his catchphrases ("Pow!" "Whams!" "Socks!") were universally known. The satire pivots when misfortune strikes: while observing a safe being raised to study it for his cartoons, the safe falls on McQuigg, injuring him severely. He lies in a coma while his famous characters languish. When recovered, his employer pressures him to resume work immediately because "your public is waiting." The joke critiques both celebrity culture (the public's obsession with one artist) and exploitative labor practices (immediate demands for productivity despite serious injury). The cartoon in the upper panel appears to reference a specific incident, though the figure identities are unclear from the image alone. The bottom cartoon is an unrelated ethnic joke typical of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
throughout the globe. Millions crowded the newsstands to get the papers, whose good fortune it was to have the privilege of pub- i rips, hot off the : hers laughed them- selves into health, mothers forgot their weariness, children were lulled to slumbers by the works of his genius. Then, at the pinnacle of his career, misfortune fell upon Mike. While watching the raising of a detail so that he might use the incident over and over again—at strategically spaced interv his cartoons, he pressed close, and when the safe fell, it picked Mike for its mark. They rushed him to a hospital. cility of medicine and y was pressed into service. eeks, months, even rs, he jay in a coma, even as his famous characters stricken at the word “Pow!” At last he regained his YES JE THRO MUNSON | 5 i is ME strength, besa is old, happy AMDEED 2 lg Avlatr = : oe cab Pally ape ek bolone Bix deeming board. “Your public is waiting, Mike!” urged his employer. “They've Yes, sir, right off the griddle and fresh every hour! Here’s been waiting all the time you the big-time flash they’re pulling on all the circuits: A gent were off your nut. Give them went into a museum and after walking around a while called over something good, quick!” an attendant. - “Say, Benny,” he said, “how is it that this bust “All right,” said Mike. “Clear of Dante is standing on a pedestal marked Shakespeare?” “My out of here and let me work.” lands!” said Arthur with a grin. “He must have taken his base on an error!” How’s that, baseball fans? The Sad Story of Mike McQuigg “Pow!” wrote Mike McQuigg, and another of his world-famous comic strips was completed. Eager hands snatched it and dashed away to broadcast it to hundreds of newspapers through- out the world, whose readers shelled out much money daily for the pleasure of reading Mike’s latest effort. The name of Mike McQuigg was world famous. In every far country, in every hamlet of his native land, Mike’s name was known and loved. His virile “Whams!” and’ all-destroying Notice or Funeran Herearrer— “Pows!”, not to mention his “All right, why do the Chinese eat puddings?” devastating ‘“‘Socks!”, echoed “To fill up the Chinks.” comicbooks.com