The Wasp — 1892 — page 512: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This comic strip follows a romantic narrative through six panels. A man pursues various women, experiencing the typical complications of courtship in what appears to be the Gilded Age or early 1900s. The sequence depicts: playing court leading to a smitten proposal; a woman captivated by a rival's charm; romantic bicycle encounters; fencing as flirtation; a woman's singing affecting him emotionally; and finally, rejection—"getting the cold shake, becomes tired of life and emigrates" to Oakland. The humor satirizes the period's romantic conventions and male susceptibility to feminine wiles. The escalating absurdity—ending in emigration over romantic disappointment—mocks both earnest lovers and the melodramatic reactions to rejection. The title directly labels this male protagonist as overly susceptible to romantic entanglement.