Tag: Rea Irvin

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of April 27, 2020

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The Cover

The new issue’s cover, by Homer Hanuka, is the seventh of the last eight covers that are coronavirus-related.  You can read a Q&A with the artist here.

The Cartoonists

Joe Dator, Sam Gross, Harry Bliss, Farley Katz, Roz Chast, Ellis Rosen, Glen Baxter, P.C. Vey, Emily Flake, Frank Cotham, David Sipress, Liana Finck, Lars Kenseth, Johnny DiNapoli, Carol Lay, Kate Curtis

The Cartoons

Not to be missed: Peter Kuper’s “Little Donald’s Sneeze (After Winsor McCay’s ‘Little Sammy Sneeze’)”

Random thoughts after going through the cartoon slide show: seeing a Sam Gross drawing in any issue is always a blast. Mr. Gross, having begun contributing to the magazine in 1969, is the veteran of the week (with Roz Chast next — she began contributing in 1978)…… always interesting to see a Glen Baxter drawing in the magazine, especially if it involves cowboys (this one does)…… Joe Dator’s olden days binge drawing caught my eye as did Ellis Rosen’s social distancing magic trick……Especially fond of Farley Katz’s solo parader (reminded me, strangely enough,  of Ringo Starr’s wonderful segment in “A Hard Day’s Night” when he goes “paradin”). Enjoyed two cartoons employing turns on old chestnuts: David Sipress’s version of “What do I look like, a mind reader?” and Kate Curtis’s on “Try to get some sleep. Everything will be better in the morning.” ….. P.C. Vey’s cave people are a hoot.

…And: there’s a newbie: the aforementioned Kate Curtis is the 5th new cartoonist added to The New Yorker‘s stable this year, and the 58th added under cartoon editor, Emma Allen.

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch

Without the digital issue posted as yet (2:00pm), I’ve no idea if Mr. Irvin’s iconic masthead (above) has returned. If I had to guess, I’d say nope, it hasn’t. Read all about it here.

 

 

 

 

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of April 20, 2020

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A Note To Readers: Due to the times we’re in the digital edition of the magazine appears later in the day than usual. Thus, instead of the usual look through the magazine, I’m working off of the slide show of cartoons on newyorker.com, as well as the cover Q&A found there. If any mistakes are made on my part I’ll correct them once the digital issue is posted.

Update: 1:00pm.  Digital issue posted about an hour ago.

The Cover: Owen Smith gives us a tired worker (the piece is titled — and again, why do we need cover titles? —  “After The Shift”)…four out of the last five covers have been corona virus themed. Read about the cover here.

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

I don’t know how others respond to an issue’s cartoons. For me, it’s always at least a two-level response:

1. How each drawing hits me — did a drawing stand out (for better or worse).

2. The feeling from all the drawings combined: was it a strong issue of work, or not.

This new issue feels strong, covering a wide range of territory in cartoonland, from aliens (courtesy of Charlie Hankin) to a PC Satyr (from Edward Koren), from dolphins in a swimming pool (McPhail), to what might be found on the other side of the mountaintop (Colin Tom)… and so much more.

 

The Rea Irvin Masthead Watch:

Rea Irvin, the fellow shown here, did so much to shape the look of The New Yorker (okay, I’ll say it — he was instrumental). One of his greatest lasting contributions was adapting Allen Lewis’s typeface; it eventually became known as the Irvin typeface, although these days I hear it   referred to as the New Yorker typeface.  Among Irvin’s many contributions other than art supervisor to Harold Ross (in itself a huge contribution!) was contributing covers, including, of course, the very first one, featuring Eustace Tilley. He also contributed cartoons, and headings for various departments. His design for Talk Of The Town stood in place (with a few adjustments in the magazine’s earliest days) for 92 years, until May of 2017 when his iconic design was mothballed and replaced by a redraw.

Am I wrong to think of Irvin’s typeface, his Tilley, his Talk masthead, and his “catholic” taste in cartoon selection as representing the graphic soul of the magazine?  So many modern changes (or “tweaks” as they were referred to) were test ballooned in recent years and then withdrawn (layout, typography, headings, etc., etc.) —  why not bring back this not insignificant bit of soul.

 

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of April 13, 2020; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

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To my readers: This being the time we’re in, the online issue has not yet been posted (as of 11:00am), so what follows is a shortened version of The Monday Tilley Watch. Long-time visitors might recall I prefer first sightings of new cartoons in situ, but in order to provide at least some basic info, I’ve gone to the slideshow (it’s posted here — scroll way down).

The Cover: The last time we saw a Pascal Campion cover (Jan.6, 2020) the Spill pointed out its uncanny resemblance to an Arthur Getz cover from 1965. This week Mr. Campion speaks with The New Yorker‘s art editor, Francoise Mouly, about Mr. Getz’s (and Sempe’s) influence on his work.

 

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

Just as The New Yorker ran a good number of war cartoons during World War II (enough to fill an Album of war cartoons), we are beginning to see a number of corona virus-related cartoons during this particular war. In the latest issue, five of the eleven cartoons are tied-in to the virus, with another few possibly so.

Update after the digital edition was posted: a color strip by Ed Steed is also virus-related.

The Rea Irvin Masthead Talk Masthead Watch:

Without access to the digital edition, I can’t say for sure that Christoph Niemann’s Talk masthead redraw(!) still appears instead of Mr. Irvin’s iconic masthead.  If I had to guess, I’d say the real deal (just below) is still on a shelf, waiting to be dusted off.

Update after the digital edition was posted: the redraw remains…for now.

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

Jeremy Nguyen on what everyone’s doing again.

Mr. Nguyen began contributing to The New Yorker in

2017. Visit his website here.

 

 

 

 

 

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of April 6, 2020; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon; Today’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

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The Cover: A heart-strings reflection of the issue’s Health Issue theme (but it’s tempting to believe we’d see a cover along these lines even if it wasn’t the Health Issue).

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

An umbrella observation from the get-go:  the abundance of color pieces (one by Roz Chast, one by Emily Flake, and one by Liana Finck) in this issue at times kind’ve almost sorta made it feel as if I was paging through a Cartoon Issue. However, unlike the special pieces found in Cartoon Issues of yore, all three of these new pieces are distinctly linked to one subject (can you guess what it might be?).

There are a number of cartoons in this issue that got my attention, beginning with Barbara Smaller’s (p.26) — my favorite Smaller drawing thus far this year. Also eye-catching: Justin Sheen’s castle & moat drawing; Brendan Loper’s getting away from it all cartoon, and Ed Steed’s survivor. All four enjoy a sharply written caption.

A number of drawings (beyond the color pieces mentioned above)  are either directly related to, or can be seen as related to the coronavirus, foremost being Joe Dator’s terrif drawing (p.69), P.C. Vey’s (p.31), and Mr. Loper’s cartoon on page 39. Tom Chitty’s friendly city drawing (p.57), as well as John O’Brien’s drawing (on page 72) could possibly be read as corona-related cartoons. The folks in Mr. O’Brien’s supermarket all seem to be spaced at least six feet apart, but, as with most all of Mr. O’Brien’s drawings, it’s an evergreen.

The remaining four drawings: Sofia Warren’s, Amy Hwang’s, Teresa Burns Parkhurst’s, and an effort from the Bliss/Martin duo, are comic relief unrelated to the health crisis.

Paperwork: the aforementioned Justin Sheen is new to the New Yorker cartoonist fold. He’s the 4th new cartoonist of 2020, and the 57th new cartoonist brought into The New Yorker since Emma Allen was appointed cartoon editor in the Spring of 2017.

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch:

Read about Rea Irvin’s mothballed iconic Talk masthead (above) here.

And This:

Just noticed that The New Yorker‘s Facebook New Yorker Cartoons page received a make-over. The new look is shown below — new (old) typography, and a (recycled) Rea Irvin inspired banana peel-inspecting Tilley icon replacing Christoph Niemann’s guy at a table icon. Mr. Niemann’s icon showed up in the Spring of 2017, and replaced an existing icon — a drawing by Jack Ziegler.  It puzzled me at the time (and thereafter) that work by a non-New Yorker cartoonist (Mr. Niemann) was chosen to replace an icon drawn by an iconic New Yorker cartoonist.

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

Kendra Allenby on the newest normal.

Ms. Allenby began contributing to The New Yorker in 2016. Visit her website here.

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Today’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

Avi Steinberg gives us “Things That Used To Be Annoying But Are Now A Comfort” — Mr. Steinberg began contributing to The New Yorker in 2012.

 

 

 

Today’s Daily Cartoonist: Bob Eckstein …and Yesterday’s Daily Cartoon & Daily Shouts; Blog Of Great Interest: A New Yorker State Of Mind; More Spills…

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

Sports Not Cancelled by Bob Eckstein, who has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2007.  Visit his website here.

…and Yesterday’s Daily Cartoon

— outer space distancing, by Avi Steinberg, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2012.

 

 

 

Yesterday’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

From Paul Karasik, “It’s Time To Start Talking to Yourself”

— Mr. Karasik began contributing to The New Yorker in 1999.

 

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Blog Of Interest: A New Yorker State Of Mind

Want to get away from this period of trial and time-travel to another period of trial? Well here’s an issue for you.

This Spill fave blog looks very closely at the contents of the March 14, 1931 issue of The New Yorker. The blog’s customary deep-dive is, as always, fascinating.

The cover is by the great Rea Irvin.

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…New Yorker contributor Emily Flake has written the introduction to Trots And Bonnie a collection of Shary Flenniken’s National Lampoon strips.

…The New York Times Sunday Magazine includes this piece (“In Praise of a Normal Boring Country”) by New Yorker cover contributor, Christoph Niemann.