The Wasp — 1893 — page 273: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic strip from *The Wasp* depicts "a handy screen and a disappointed highbinder" in a sequential narrative. The story shows a man using a large decorative screen as a weapon against what appears to be a Chinese man (the "highbinder"—a period term for Chinese gang members or assassins). The humor derives from inverting expectations: rather than the feared "highbinder" being dangerous, he's comically thwarted by an ordinary household object. The strip plays on contemporary anxieties about Chinese criminality and violence in American cities, while simultaneously mocking those fears through absurdist slapstick. The elaborate weapons displayed alongside the panels—daggers and revolvers—emphasize the stereotypical association of Chinese immigrants with danger, making the mundane screen's effectiveness darkly comedic to the intended audience.