Life — April 30, 1925 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "The First Comic Strip" - Life Magazine This page presents a comedic retelling of the Adam and Eve story from Genesis, presented as "the first comic strip." The six-panel narrative depicts two nude figures in the Garden of Eden: one character offers an apple to the other, who initially refuses ("Leave some for me!"). After eating, the second figure becomes ill ("Now you've done it!"). The final panels show them blaming each other for the fall of man. The dark final panel delivers the satirical punchline: blaming woman for humanity's downfall, framing it as an eternal consequence—"the woman that pays" for breaking God's rules. The joke targets both biblical literalism and contemporary gender politics, sardonically suggesting women bear responsibility for human suffering itself.