The Wasp — 1891 — page 413: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic strip mocks Eastern stereotypes about California. The narrative follows an Eastern visitor who arrives with absurdly exaggerated expectations of the Wild West—believing Californians dress in frontier clothing, carry weapons, and live dangerously. Each panel subverts his assumptions: clothiers show normal fashion, not leather; tailors measure for standard trousers; hatters display conventional hats. The repeated punchline—"that's not the kind of trousers the people of California wear"—emphasizes how ridiculous his preconceptions are. The final panel shows him arrested for carrying firearms, suggesting that actual California is civilized and law-abiding, not the lawless frontier outsiders imagine. The satire targets Eastern ignorance and outdated Wild West mythology about the modern, developed state.