Author: michael

The Tilley Watch Online For The Week of September 3-7, 2018

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Once again, a week of all Trump Daily cartoons. Perhaps the magazine might consider a new dedicated Daily Cartoon heading for lampooning this president…something like, oh, I don’t know, maybe “The Daily Don”…

For the record, here are this week’s Daily cartoonists: Ellis Rosen, Peter Kuper, Brendan Loper, and newbie Lizzy Itzkowitz (her work has not been in the print mag as of this past week).

This week’s contributing Daily Shouts New Yorker cartoonists: Jason Adam Katzenstein (with Noel Wells), Liana Finck, Emily Flake, and Ward Sutton.

You can see the week’s work (and more) here on newyorker.com.

Chris Weyant Answers Three Questions; Steig’s Divorce Illustrations; Three Cartoonists at Pennsylvania Fest; Cartoon Companion’s Latest Ratings

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 Chris Weyant Answers Three Questions

From The Children’s Book Council, September 5, 2018, “Three Questions With Chris Weyant”

Mr. Weyant began contributing his cartoons to The New Yorker in 1998. Link here to his website.

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Steig’s Divorce Illustrations

Thanks to a fave Spill blog, Attempted Bloggery, we’re able to see some great William Steig illustrations that appeared in American Magazine in the early 1940s.

Mr. Steig’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 1907, died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2003. In a New Yorker career that lasted well over half a century and a publishing history that contains more than a cart load of books, both children’s and otherwise, it’s impossible to sum up Steig’s influence here on Ink Spill. He was among the giants of the New Yorker cartoon world, along with James Thurber, Saul Steinberg, Charles Addams, Helen Hokinson and Peter Arno. Lee Lorenz’s World of William Steig (Artisan, 1998) is an excellent way to begin exploring Steig’s life and work. NYer work: 1930 -2003.

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Three Cartoonists at Pennsylvania Festival

Bob Eckstein, Chris Weyant, and David Borchart (above, left to right) will appear at the Milford (Pa.) Festival on September 30th.  Read all about it here.

Their work appears in the upcoming anthology, “The Ultimate Cartoon Book of Book Cartoons by the World’s Greatest Cartoonists” a collection edited by Mr. Eckstein. Due out, March, 2019.

Mr. Eckstein’s latest book is The Illustrated History of the Snowman (Globe Pequot Press). Out now!

Also out is Eraser (Two Lions),by Anna Kang, illustrated by Mr. Weyant.

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Cartoon Companion’s Latest Ratings

Everybody’s got an opinion, but only two folks (“Max” & “Simon”) devote blog space on a regular basis to sizing up every cartoon in each issue of The New Yorker. Read here.

Blog of Interest: A New Yorker State Of Mind / Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker Magazine

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One of the Spill‘s favorite New Yorker-centric blogs takes a close look at the issue of August 31, 1929.  Consider the blog’s subtitle for a moment: Reading Every Issue of The New Yorker Magazine.  If you love The New Yorker, you’ll love watching the magazine’s early development. And of course, there’s all that history. Read it here.

Above: the Aug 31st ’29 issue — the cover by Theodore Haupt, who contributed forty-four covers to the magazine from September 3, 1927 through January 21, 1933.

The Monday Tilley Watch, the New Yorker Issue of September 10, 2018; Cartoon Happenings At The New Yorker Festival

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 “The Style Issue”  with a Kadir Nelson cover — the second Nelson cover in three weeks. It’s titled “Savoring Summer” (and again, I question why the New Yorker‘s covers need to be titled. Shouldn’t covers speak for themselves, so to speak? This cover certainly does). 

The cartoons:

Thinking there’d be a bevy of cartoonists in this mid-September issue (last week’s issue had fourteen), it was a surprise finding nine single panel cartoons this week (there’s a multi-panel “Sketchbook” by Roz Chast).  

Lately the Monday Tilley Watch has moved away from looking at every cartoon in each issue, but that doesn’t mean each and every cartoon in each and every issue doesn’t receive my undivided attention. Often I look at a cartoon like I eat popcorn.  But sometimes I linger on a particular drawing, savoring the art, or the caption (if there is a caption); in the best of times, I linger because I’m happy to be looking at something that works, that really works.  Other times I linger out of puzzlement — wondering what I’ve missed about the drawing — how, to my eyes, it went awry (or how my cultural antenna have failed me). It is far more exciting to come across a drawing that soars than one that fails.  Take for instance Joe Dator’s three part Beauty and the Beast cartoon in this new issue. I believe the drawing hits the high bar.  It’s drawn well (it reminds me of Lee Lorenz’s confident energetic art), and it measures up to Peter Arno’s characterization of a good cartoon, landing a one-two punch. A Spill round of applause is in order.

Some impressions from the issue:  Frank Cotham’s cartoon — it leads off the issue, sitting in a good-sized space following the Table Of Contents.  I mentioned Mr. Lorenz’s confident drawing; in Mr. Cotham’s quarter century of contributing to the New Yorker, he’s shown no fear in taking on the big picture, and handling it well. Alex Gregory’s line (his drawing is on p.93) is always a welcome sight.  Ed Steed’s bee-hive wielding doctor drawing (p.55) seems like a follow-up to Zach Kanin’s memorable “I can feel the baby kicking” cartoon from 2008.

The Caption Contest:

Cartoon caption contest drawings aren’t mentioned here much, but I did note that Mick Stevens’ drawing this week echoes one of mine (captioned as you see) published in The New Yorker, August 23, 1982.

Finally, let us not forget Rea Irvin’s missing classic Talk Of The Town masthead. I sometimes picture it propped up in a closest someplace in the magazine’s offices, waiting to be rediscovered and returned to its proper place. Until that time, if it ever comes, here it is:

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Cartoon Happenings at The New Yorker Festival

Held October 5, 6, and 7th. So far, here’s what’s up at the festival, cartoon-wise:

Saturday, the 6th: Sh!t Show: A Parenting Comedy Revue (with, among others, Emily Flake, and Roz Chast).

Sunday, the 7th: Cartoons & Coffee (with Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell and Farley Katz)

Here’s the homepage for the Festival