The Cover: Ed Steed’s third New Yorker cover in five months. This makes my day: it’s always great to see a New Yorker cartoonist cross-over from the cartoon department to the art department (shades of the pre-Tina Brown days when the cartoonists provided the majority of covers). Here’s a Q&A with Mr. Steed about his latest cover.
The Cartoonists:
The Cartoons:
Zipping through this new issue I see it’s loaded with cartoons (yay!). I also see that the freshman class of the 1970s is well represented: Roz Chast, Mick Stevens, the late Jack Ziegler, and myself; there are also four freshman from the class of the 1990s: P.C. Vey, Nick Downes, Kim Warp, and Barbara Smaller. And at opposite ends of the time line are George Booth, a freshman in the class of the 1960s (1969 to be a little more precise), and Keith Knight, who makes his New Yorker debut in this issue (so a freshman in the class of the 2010s). Mr. Knight is the 27th newbie of the year, and the 53rd to join The New Yorker‘s stable since Emma Allen took the cartoon department reins in the Spring of 2017.
Seeing the Booth cartoon (it’s on p.32) takes me right back to my fledgling days at The New Yorker and my belief that Mr. Booth’s work is what the magazine’s cartoons are all about: superb drawing, and a precisely defined world of personalized humor. Some forty plus years after I discovered Mr. Booth’s world I still get revved up and inspired from seeing one of his drawings.
A couple of thoughts on a couple of drawings: both Sofia Warren’s fine drawing (p.51) and Nick Downes’ wonderful Rockefeller Center skating rink drawing would’ve benefited us (the readers) had they been allowed more space. These are drawings full of great detail.
On the other hand, Roz Chast’s funny Abominable Snow-Woman (p.73) seems just the right size. Such a good drawing. It would be great if she marketed her snow-woman as a stuffed toy (I’d want one).
Really enjoyed Paul Noth’s Bat-signal/Robin-signal drawing (p.42). I especially like the work he put into Batman and Robin’s outfits.
Speaking of cartoon worlds, as I was earlier in regards to Mr. Booth’s work, I cannot leave this ramble on the cartoons without mentioning how missed Jack Ziegler’s cartoon world is. Seeing his drawing in this issue is a tip of the iceberg reminder of what a spectacularly funny cartoonist he was. If you don’t already have his masterpiece collection, Hamburger Madness, get it.
The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch: Bah, humbug…nothing has changed. The redrawn masthead, installed in the Spring of 2017 still sits where Mr. Irvin’s beauty once sat. Below is Mr. Irvin’s classic design; here’s where you can read more about it.
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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon
Ellie Black on a critic’s crisis.
Ms. Black has been contributing to The New Yorker since February of this year.
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Shouts In Review
Emma Allen, The New Yorker’s cartoon editor, and editor of Daily Shouts, lists Shouts highlights.
A whole bunch of New Yorker cartoonists are therein.
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Blitt’s Mao & Nixon
From “Barry Blitt’s Kvetchbook,” a flashback to February of 1972, when Nixon met Mao. Above: the real deal.
