OT: Cartoonists ads from Playboy

Jack Davis Dexter shoe ad in Playboy, Dec. 1980. Around this time, Davis seemed to be everywhere. He regularly covered TV Guide, drew a postage stamp, did posters for the American Cancer Society... hard to believe this is almost 30 years ago.



Cassette recorder? What's that? Charles Saxon gag cartoon ad in Playboy, Dec. 1980. Saxon's best known for his New Yorker work.

New York Times on future of comic strips

This is a pretty good article - "Prototype: The Comics Are Feeling the Pain of Print," By LESLIE BERLIN, New York Times December 28, 2008.

New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.

Our Man Thompson's Obama-nation

The New Yorker is selling prints of the drawing of Obama as FDR that Richard did for them a few week ago.

Staake tops Time's list

Art Cafe (really?), Bob Staake's webmaster, wrote in to remind me that Staake's New Yorker cartoon was picked as the year's best magazine cover by Time Magazine.

I must say, Staake can work in a bunch of styles. This cover is nothing like what he does for the Post on Sundays, and I've got some of his how-to books which are well-worth having.

OT: Ask Bob Mankoff, the New Yorker cartoon editor a question

The New Yorker cartoon issue is shipping now, although I haven't looked at mine yet. They've got some online features including a selection of Luckovich cartoons and a Bob Mankoff Q&A. I had a drink with Mankoff once, along with some other cartoonists. He's got a keen appreciation of humor and cartooning as well as a very good grasp of the economics of cartooning.

Questions for Bob Mankoff

Bob Mankoff, The New Yorker’s cartoon editor, takes questions about the November 3, 2008, Cartoon Issue, the Cartoon Caption Contest, and drawing for the magazine.

Submit questions for Mankoff here; he will post his answers later in the week. Your questions may be edited for length and clarity, and
will be answered at The New Yorker’s discretion.

New York Times columnist on Blitt's Obama

The Times has run an op-ed piece which finally puts the Blitt caricature in the context of Daumier and George Grosz - see "We’re Not Laughing at You, or With You," By LEE SIEGEL, New York Times July 20, 2008.

Amusingly enough, Blitt regularly illustrates Frank Rich's column and today about two pages later, he had a nice caricature of McCain for an article about his economic ineptness.

Finally, the Business section has a good article on Conde Nast, the New Yorker's corporate parent.

Blitt's Obama caricature - more Post commentators

I guess the Obama caricature by Blitt is a Washington story by virtue of Obama's position, so the Post covered it pretty hard at least in their blogs. Here's more:

An article in the Post:

It's Funny How Humor Is So Ticklish
By Philip Kennicott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 15, 2008; C01

and the following chat:

The New Yorker Cover and the Challenge of Satire
Philip Kennicott
Washington Post Culture Critic
Tuesday, July 15, 2008; 2:00 PM

A blog post by one of their 'futurist' type writers:

Achenbach, Joel. 2008.
New Yorker Cover Not So Funny
Washington Post's Achenblog (July 14):

- note Our Man Thompson's drawing for the blog header.

and their Media correspondent's chat (there are three relevant posts here):

Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Columnist
Media Backtalk blog Monday, July 14, 2008;

and Dave Horsey did a really funny cartoon that someone linked to in Weingarten's chat.

Weingarten opines on Blitt's Obama

Gene Weingarten, in his Tuesday chat, addressed the breaking 'story' of Barry Blitt's caricature of Obama for the New Yorker:

New Yorker: Isn't it disingenuous (at best) for the editor to say his mag is NOT written for the upper-west side? I love the mag and still feel at least that that socio-economic group is its target. Sure, WE don't need an explanation; plenty of others might.

Thoughts, o' arbiter o' humor?

Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I don't want to speak at enormous length about this, because you've already heard from Kurtz and Achenbach and today, a very thoughtful piece from Kennicott.

To be brief: Of course it was a mistake. A minor mistake, but a mistake nontheless. The New Yorker has no words on its cover, meaning the cover art alone must carry its message. Obviously, the devoted reader of this particular magazine is going to understand this is satire; but this is a magazine sold on newsstands, and a lot of eyes might look at it without the benefit of background.

I disagree with Achenbach on one point: I think the image is pretty funny, particularly the depiction of Michelle Obama as though she were Angela Davis. It actually took me a second to get that joke, and then I laughed.

Those who are trying to make this out as a big deal, a gigantic blunder, are political zealots trying to make a point. Once explained, The New Yorker's intent was clear, and benign.

and the new Comic Riffs blog was noticed:

Springfield, Va.: Have you "had your way" with the Comics Riff blog meister yet?

washingtonpost.com: Comic Riffs

Gene Weingarten: I am watching with interest. He has my support. I thought his first post, expressing exhaustion with meta-gats in strips, was a smart idea.

And Cavna's new Comics Riff blog got some notice:

_______________________

McLean, Va.: Gene, Did you have any role in the creation of the Comic Riffs blog?

Gene Weingarten: Nope. Not even a heads up. So I can't answer for it, but I'm happy it's there. Can't overcover the comics.

Post blogs on Blitt's Obama, the Joker and strip navel gazing

On the Trail - "'Tasteless and Offensive' New Yorker Cover Riles Obama Camp," By Perry Bacon Jr. One should read this for the comments as the blog post adds nothing to the story.

On the new Comics Riffs blog, even before the day's over - "Let the Countdown to "Dark Knight" Begin..." by guest blogger David Betancourt.

And, as noted here last Saturday, comic strips are getting more self-referential. Cavna's take - "The Morning Line: Meta? Meh." See today's Family Circus as I mentioned earlier, and also Tom Inge did a book on this - Anything Can Happen in a Comic Strip - which is still available from Ohio State U's Cartoon Art Collection

Blitt cartoon of Obama on New Yorker becomes controversial

Politico cartoonist Matt Wuerker sent along this article about Barry Blitt's cover of the New Yorker showing the Obamas as radicals and the controversy it's generating, at least in the hermetic media world - "'Scare tactic' — Obama slams Muslim portrayal," By MIKE ALLEN, 7/13/08.

Personally, I can't believe editor David Remnick had to tell anyone it was satire. Or that anyone had to ask.

Matt was responding to a discussion we had with Warren Bernard about Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot. See "Why Islam Is Unfunny for a Cartoonist: The arrest of a controversial Dutch cartoonist has set off a wave of protests. The case is raising questions for a changing Europe about free speech, religion and art," By ANDREW HIGGINS, Wall Street Journal July 12, 2008; Page W1.

Will more become less?

I noticed the above ad in a recent issue of the New Yorker and wondered about it since the two titles weren't familiar. Following the link to this page and doublechecking against Amazon shows that at least 4 of these books are self-published - The Book of Moms, The Book of Dads, The Graduation Collection and Will You Be Mine? I'd rather see more in print of course, but this does highlight a problem with both collecting and bibliography that's accelerating rapidly. It's very unlikely that any of these four books will end up in a library collection for example, unless they're actively sought out. I probably won't buy them as the price is a bit steep - $25 for 100 pages? Or$100 for four slim books?

Andrews McMeel's publishing through Lulu.com leads to the same problems. I can see a return to the earliest days of print when small publishers brought out items and now copies may not exist of their publications...

Bob Staake leaps from Washington Post to New Yorker

Actually, the two probably have nothing to do with each other, but Bob Staake, the regular cartoonist for the Washington Post's Style Invitational contest did the cover of the June 2 2008 New Yorker. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's done covers for them regularly including a nice Statue of Liberty with a fluorescent light bulb instead of a torch earlier this year.

NY Times (and New Yorker) on Iranian cartoonist

I must confess that I was completely unfamiliar with Mohassess's work, but there's an exhibit of it in New York city. See Life in Iran, Etched With Suspicion and Humor By KAREN ROSENBERG, New York Times May 30, 2008. In Ardeshir Mohassess’s drawings, the coded beauty of traditional Persian art comes face to face with the ugliness of successive autocratic regimes.

and "Satire, Iranian," by Ben McGrath, New Yorker June 2, 2008

Washington writer reviews new gag comics book on Nazis

See "Is It Kosher To Laugh At Swastikas?," by Menachem Wecker, Jewish Press April 9, 2008 for his review of We Have Ways of Making You Laugh: 120 Funny Swastika Cartoons by Sam Gross.

A little bit of New York(er) in DC

While waiting for the American Empire talk, I noticed this rack of New Yorker cartoon cards in Politics and Prose. Bob Mankoff has done an amazing job at making money for both cartoonists and the magazine, hasn't he?

OT: Beaty on Wertham ratified by New Yorker

My revisionist Canuck buddy Bart Beaty's book on Fredric Wertham, which you should all own, is cited approvingly in this article "The Horror: Congress investigates the comics," by Louis Menand, New Yorker.com March 31, 2008.

New Yorker January 28, 2008 comic bits

Capturing the non-gag comics bits in the latest New Yorker -

1/28/08
#Swarte illo for Buying a Cure by Jerome Groopman, p. 39,
#In Calvin Tomkins’ Lifting the Veil, p. 58, artist John Currin says he was inspired to paint Old Master style pornographic paintings by the Danish Islam cartoon controversy, and returns to that point several times.
#Gerald Scarfe caricature of Benjamin Franklin for The Creed by Jill Lepore, p. 79.

OT: Comics artists in the New Yorker

Years ago, I used to borrow the New Yorker from the library and go through it looking for the new wave of comic book artists that Mouley and Spiegelman were using. Eventually I started reading it and then subscribing. I'm still subscribing, but fell out of the habit of reading the issue as it arrived - a major error since piles of them now lurk around the house. To try to keep up, I'll post the comic artists who are not gag cartoonists here each week. The new issue has:

1/14/08
#Rutu Modan illo, "27 Dresses," directed by Anne Fletcher and
starring Katherine Heigl, opens Jan. 11, p. 18,
#Philippe Petit-Roulet illustration for Rarely Available, p. 38,
#JC Duffy cartoon, "I've got a gun," p. 64.

Zippy a tounge-in-cheek Crumb homage?

Today's Zippy was about the joy of tape-dispensing machines - the same subject that Robert and Aline Crumb did a comic on in the New Yorker's putative cartoon issue a few weeks ago. My guess is it was a tip of the Zip to the Crumbs.

OT: New Yorker cartoon issue out and going...

The November 26th issue turned out to be the Cartoon Issue which gets earlier every year. I just got the first December issue in the mail, so if you want the Cartoon one, better go to a newsstand soon. It's got a nice Bruce McCall cover gag on recycling, Gahan Wilson, and "how do you get your ideas" cartoons.