Germany's Comic Magazine Lustige Blätter

By Tony Langley

Lustige Blätter ("comic pages") was a satirical weekly published in Berlin that featured artwork by some of accomplished commercial artists of the day. The content of these satirical pages could be pro-military, anti-Allied, just plain social commentary, or something charming and saccharine. 

In the images on this page, there are sniveling Allied generals and politicians,  a commentary about the the Central Powers at long last turning John Bull into a mummy; a sentimental cartoon of German guards on the Belgian-Dutch border flirting with some improbable Dutch maidens anachronistically dressed as in the cheapest postcard;  and a rather vicious caricature of President Wilson speaking with a serpent's "forked tongue."

It was a quality publication, featuring many full color pages. Lustige Blätter was similar to the cultural magazine Jugend published in Munich, though Jugend was more artistically inclined in its content.