The Monday Tilley Watch Takes A Glancing Look At Some Of The Art & Artists Of The Latest Issue Of The New Yorker
The December 28, 2020 Issue: The Cartoon Issue
It’s been nine years since The New Yorker‘s last officially designated “Cartoon Issue.” Last year’s “Cartoon Takeover” (subtitled “A Semi-Archival Issue”) was in the ballpark, but not the same animal. It’s tempting to go back to the 2011 Cartoon Issue and compare with 2020’s but 2011 was then, 2020 is now (at least for another 11 days).
The Cover:
Harry Bliss gives us what is being billed as a homage to Charles Addams.
Even though I just implied I wouldn’t reference 2011’s Cartoon Issue, I will say that that issue’s cover, by the great George Booth, showing a vampire and a kitty seated at a table in a vaulted room, also had a somewhat Addamsy feel to it.
The Cartoonists:
The Cartoons:
Seventeen cartoons, twenty-four New Yorker cartoonists. Mr. Bliss’s work is on the cover, and five cartoonists are represented in special features within the issue. These special features are outside of the usual classic stand-alone single panel New Yorker cartoon: Roz Chast w/A Cartoonist’s Life, Liana Finck w/Stay-At-Home-Fun, Ed Steed w/Life Drawing, Jeremy Nguyen w/Sketchpad, Ali Fitzgerald w/The Museum Of Purgatory, and a full page Edward Koren drawing/illustration that appears opposite Greetings, Friends! (this is, I believe the first time that annual page has been afforded an accompanying full page illustration).
There’s a large presence of multi-panel comic art: 34 pages, including the aforementioned Ali Fitzgerald’s 6 pages…these are typically not noted in the Spill’s Monday Tilley Watch unless the artist has published a single panel cartoon in the magazine (Ms. Fitzgerald being the example here).
The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch
Ed Steed’s fun take on Rea Irvin’s classic design has returned for this Cartoon Issue (it was last seen on 2019’s Cartoon Takeover).
Here’s some info on the Irvin masthead, and below, the masthead itself which continues to remain on a shelf.
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Two fun pieces of book news:
First, New Yorker cover artist & cartoonist, John Cuneo announced on social media that his new book Coping Skills this coming Spring (Fantagraphics is publishing). Read about it here.
And secondly…
Print‘s “30 Of The Best Art And Design Books of 2020” includes the Bob Eckstein edited cartoon collection, All’s Fair In Love & War” (Princeton Architectural Press).
Congrats to Mr. Eckstein!