The Wasp — 1895 — page 35: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This six-panel satirical comic depicts a man's tumultuous New Year's journey home. Panel 1 shows "The Journey: 'Home, Sweet Home,'" where he departs optimistically with a child. Panel 2, "The mistake," shows him attacked by stars (likely representing drunkenness or confusion). Panel 3, "The recognition!!" depicts him colliding with a street lamp. Panels 4-6 show escalating domestic chaos: "The journey resumed" with umbrella confrontations, "Another collision!!" with scattered belongings, and finally "The fatal error: 'D—n them (his) lamp-posts!' (Curtain)" where he's knocked down again. The satire mocks the working-class man's New Year's Eve alcoholic misadventures and the inevitable domestic strife upon returning home to his wife—a common comedic theme of the era.