Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #3 — page 41: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a poem, not a cartoon. It presents a moral critique of religious hypocrisy and gender double standards. The narrative contrasts two people guilty of the same sin: a woman who is publicly condemned, cast out, and dies in shame ("cross of shame"), and a man who receives social forgiveness and is buried with dignity ("honest man"). The poem's conclusion—that only the woman enters Paradise while the man is excluded—inverts worldly judgment. It critiques how society applies morality unevenly: harshly punishing women's transgressions while excusing men's identical sins. The final lines challenge readers' assumptions about "virtue and vice," suggesting God's judgment differs radically from society's hypocritical verdicts.