The Wasp — 1878 — page 59: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page depicts a 12-panel sequential comic showing men playing pool or billiards, with increasingly chaotic and undignified behavior. The figures appear to be gentlemen or politicians (suggested by formal dress and caricatured faces typical of 19th-century American satirical magazines). The progression moves from composed play to physical altercation—men arguing, fighting, and behaving badly around the billiards table. The satire likely mocks either a specific political rivalry or the general stereotype of competitive male behavior in leisure settings, where dignity deteriorates into violence and foolishness. Without identified captions or additional context, the specific political figures targeted remain unclear, though the visual mockery of physical combat over a game is evident throughout.