The Wasp — 1877 — page 37: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical six-panel comic from *The Wasp* (January 20, 1871) depicts a man identified as "Mr. Gas-Bags" experiencing mishaps during a horseback ride. The sequence appears to mock a pompous or verbose public figure—"gas-bags" being period slang for someone who talks excessively. The panels show: (1) difficulties mounting a horse; (2) an uncontrolled gallop; (3) the horse bucking wildly; (4) the rider falling into water or mud; (5) interaction with a livery stable or similar establishment; (6) the bedraggled aftermath indoors. The satire likely ridicules both the subject's pretensions and the physical humiliation resulting from his incompetence. Without identifying the specific historical figure, the comic employs slapstick consequences to deflate inflated rhetoric or social pretension.