The Cover: A standup paddle boarder in the shadow of The Brooklyn Bridge. Read about Malika Favre’s eighth New Yorker cover here. (if you go online you’ll see that the little paddleboarder’s been animated. What a world!)
The Cartoonists: 
You’ll note New Yorker cover artist, John Cuneo’s name in the list, but this is the first time Mr. Cuneo’s name appears among the cartoonists — it’s his New Yorker cartoon debut. Mr. Cuneo is the 13th addition to the magazine’s cartoonist stable this year and the 39th new cartoonist added to the roster since Emma Allen was appointed cartoon editor in May of 2017.
The Cartoons: Just for fun, as I did here a few weeks ago, I went back a number of years (40 this time) to this date and took a look at the issue’s cartoonists and cartoons. Here’s the line-up from the issue of May 28, 1979:
As with the last time I did this, the number of cartoonists in the back issue is double the number in the present issue (22 in 1979; 11 in 2019). But…as was the case last time, the back issue was far heftier in page count (128) than this latest issue (78), so proportionately, the cartoonists are holding their own, numbers-wise. The 1979 issue does however feature a wonderful two-and-a- half page Steinberg spread (“Cousins”).
The Illustrations: The 2019 issue contains 20 color illustrations, including 3 1/2 full page illustrations. The 1979 issue contains 2 small b&w illustrations.
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A fun thing: The very first cartoon in the 1979 issue is by Jack Ziegler. Coming across it this morning I remembered that Mr. Ziegler and I briefly discussed the drawing in the Spill‘s two-part 2016 Ziegler interview:
Michael Maslin: Here’s another far eastern themed drawing: Fleetwood Mac. I’ve always loved it because I never understood Fleetwood Mac.
Jack Ziegler: This was a much earlier Fleetwood Mac I was referring to, around the time they got mega platinum. I just needed the name of a band there.
MM: You just imagined this scene?
JZ: Yeah, right. Almost everything I do is as far as the scene background settings – it’s all made up.
MM: What are those little things off to the left on the bottom.
JZ: Oh those are just little houses down the hill. What did you think they were?
[laughter]
MM: Structures of some kind – I just wanted to be sure.
(you can see all of Pt.1 here, and all of Pt. 2 here. The above is found in Pt. 2)
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Rea Irvin: and of course one major difference between the older issue and this week’s issue is that Rea Irvin’s classic Talk masthead was still in its usual spot in 1979. In 2019, the puzzling redraw of Mr. Irvin’s work continues its run. Read about these two designs here. Below: Irvin’s still a-missin’ and missed masthead.
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Today’s Daily Cartoonist/Cartoon
Farley Katz delivers the post Game of Thrones Daily. Mr. Katz began contributing to The New Yorker in 2007.
