Judge — June 9, 1928 — page 20: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic strip depicts a courtroom clerk whose superstitious belief in omens causes escalating chaos in a judge's chambers. The sequence shows: 1. **Top row**: The clerk celebrating what appears to be a favorable sign, while the judge reacts with growing frustration 2. **Middle panels**: The clerk's interpretation of various signs—a ladder, conflict between men, and scattered papers—leading to increasingly absurd situations 3. **Bottom panels**: The situation deteriorating, culminating in apparent disaster The satire targets superstition and magical thinking, suggesting that relying on omens and signs rather than rational judgment leads to disorder and failure. The judge's authority and courtroom decorum are undermined by one employee's irrational beliefs, reflecting broader Progressive-era concerns about superstition versus reason in professional and civic institutions.