Judge — June 11, 1927 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Terrible Revenges for Timid People" This comic strip satirizes the fantasies of timid, meek individuals by showing exaggerated scenarios of violent revenge. The protagonist (appearing as a small, nervous man in a suit and helmet) imagines increasingly absurd and destructive ways to retaliate against those who've wronged him—including confrontations with authority figures (a judge, a street-cleaning department official), aggressive drivers, and others. The humor derives from the contrast between the character's actual timidity and his wildly disproportionate imagined responses: using fire hoses as weapons, destroying vehicles, and causing general mayhem. The comic gently mocks both the meek personality type and the fantasy of sudden, violent empowerment—a common theme in early-20th-century satirical humor that played on masculine anxieties about inadequacy and social powerlessness.