I’ll be your New Yorker cartoon editor today!
I haven’t subscribed to the New Yorker magazine in many years but I occasionally like to take a look in there, anyway. So I picked up a couple of old issues in one of the Free Little Libraries in the neighborhood, and Bob’s your uncle. Here’s the first one I checked out.
Cover of June 29th 2020 New Yorker magazine
Although the previous owner of this magazine was obviously a huge fan of most everything the New Yorker has to offer, I guess the covers are an exception! Who would cut out the name on the cover when you could just peel the tag off?? NY covers are still a big collectible, and a great way to see current artists and illustrators.
This week’s cover is of two African American women and some children, by Diana eja Ita This was just a couple of weeks after the BLM riots, of course. it’s in a style that some might call cultural appropriation but Diana Is from Nigeria so it is her culture. It’s well-balanced but just nothing I would save. I don’t celebrate reactions to riots.
Cartoons in June 29, 2020 issue (a year ago, guys!)
This magazine was well-read and appreciated, as you can see! The owner checked off every single article and poem twice, to make sure she had read them all! The pages are well thumbed, and from the stains, there were some great snacks in the vicinity. But no cartoons were cut out..or folded over…so were they truly appreciated?
So that’s where I come in. I edited 2 books, and a Barnes & Noble calendar, and they turned out swell! Let’s find the great images here and tell you why they work (or don’t.)
I don’t see any article author in this issue that interests me, so we’ll just jump straight to the cartoons. The cartoonists in this issue, in order, are: Barbara Smaller, Akeem Roberts, Joe Dator, Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby, Roz Chast, Victoria Roberts, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Frank Cotham, Tom Toro, PC Vey, Amy Hwang, Charlie Hankin, Emily Bernstein, Evan Lian, Julia Suits.
I recognize most of the names. (Whoa, I can’t believe they have a “team”: Pia and Ian, for one of the cartoons. That means they’re not cartoonists, but rather a joke writer and an illustrator. There are so many actual, talented cartoonists out there…why settle for halfsies like this, New Yorker?)
Best cartoon in New Yorker issue June 29, 2020:
Best cartoon in New Yorker issue June 29, 2020:There were a couple of good ones, but this is the only one that made me laugh. Walt’s nightmare: American Museum of Waltz browser history, by Joe Dator.
Maybe I’ve got some secrets of my own in my computer, ya think? 🙂
I’ve enjoyed some of Joe’s cartoons before, although I can’t remember any particular ones at the moment. The drawing is competent, and pretty typical. But I have to ask: do men in New York still carry a briefcase and wear a suit in the summer? I don’t know about that.
Gee, Joe, why aren’t you in Amazon? No books? All I could find was one issue of the New Yorker!
Runner-up best cartoon
Rescued, at last from quinoa, by Charlie Hankin. I don’t know this cartoonist.
Fun concept, good execution. I will say that the colored donut adds a lot! And I do have a weakness for food cartoons, so, yeah.
This is odd. Hankin doesn’t have anything in Amazon, either. Are New Yorker cartoonists not allowed to publish their own work anymore?? I did find one DVD which was supposed to be an interview with Bob Mankoff, former editor of the New Yorker. It has a one star review, called A Complete Dud. 🙂 From the reviewer:
This DVD seems to have been automatically generated from “60 Minutes” content and mistakenly included the wrong segment.
Rather than the New Yorker Cartoon segment, I received a feature on computerized stock trading – interesting, but not what I ordered.
That reviewer should stick to the magazine. 🙂 Or Kindle.
Worst New Yorker cartoon of June 29th, 2020.
Worry Farm, by Roz Chast. If you can’t be funny, please be attractive. This is just a box of synonyms. Would somebody be tempted to send this to a friend, or frame it? Any subtext? No to all. This didn’t work for me, but she’s both prolific and popular on Amazon, at least!
Side eye to PC Vey
Peter Vey is one of the best cartoonists anywhere, but I will always be offended by a cartoon about killing animals. (Two mob guys are about to throw a goldfish in the ocean. Yuck.)
Peter has 3 books available on Amazon – all about cats! He’s a great marketer, for sure. But I think his best cartoons are business or relationships.
Mystery cartoon
How much longer before you act, by Frank Cotham. I’ve never met Frank but of course I’ve seen his work for many years. For some reason, this style looks different to me… In any case, I have no idea what’s in the barrel that’s rolling down the desert or wherever they are.
What am I missing, do you know?
Didn’t find any cartoon books by Cotham – just a signed envelope. That’s kind of gross.
Cartoon caption contest
This is on the last page of each issue of the magazine. It’s not my cup of tea, as I like to both write and draw my cartoons, but I know it’s super popular. In fact, one of roommates I interviewed with (since I’ve been evicted, I’ve lived in 12 places) wanted me just because of my New Yorker cartoons, and couldn’t wait to show me her own captions of that week! And she is a journalist!
Of the 3 finalist captions for the clown cartoon, the first one is more New Yorker-y and also kind of Hollywood which they also tend to like. I’m guessing they picked that.
I forgot to photograph the baseball one on that page. I can understand it from the context but I don’t like all the characters drawn on the same plane (hey, perspective is hard, but it adds a lot!). And it doesn’t seem that funny to me. Maybe to a sports lover.
So there you go. If I were the editor of the New Yorker dot-dot-dot it would be more like me. 🙂 It looks like the New Yorker is having a flash sale on subscriptions right now. It’s tempting…but looks like the digital edition is separate.
Did you like or hate any of these, or would you have picked others? Comments welcome!
Set painter in studio Art Depts. Member Scriptwriters Network, script analyst.
Author, 2 hardcopy books, Barnes & Noble Calendar.
- Emma in the Night ~ Wendy Walker ~ Thriller - May 11, 2023
- Still Alice (2014) ~ Psychology Movie Review ~ Julianne Moore - January 25, 2023
- The Other Emily ~ Dean Koontz - January 23, 2023
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