Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The New Yorker covers: February 27, 1984

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorkerwhich was founded in 1925.

Abel Quezada
(covers untitled until February 1993)

The (old) Down East covers: July 1972

Ever since its founding in 1954, Down East has billed itself as “the magazine of Maine.” There are other Maine-centered mags, but Down East remains the most prominent of the bunch. Nowadays, the Rockport-based monthly features glossy, memorable cover photos, but there's a lot to be said for the charming, old-timey look of covers from the publication’s early decades.

Edith Berry, "Camden Harbor"

Movie Posters, 1979: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!


"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"The Lookout – 'All's Well,'" 1896, Winslow Homer

Today in the history of the American comic strip: March 19


American cartoonists and writers may not have invented the comic strip, but some argue that the comics, as we know them today, are an American creation. Clearly, the United States has played an outsize role in the development of this underappreciated art form.

3.19.1934: Red Barry, a detective strip by Will Gould, debuts. One of several comics introduced to compete with Dick Tracy, it ran until 1939.

3.19.1984: Bill Holbrook introduces On the Fastrack, which examines life in the corporate world by focusing on the folks at Fastrack Inc.

3.19.1989: Ethel Hays dies at 97. She specialized in flapper-themed comic strips, and later became an accomplished illustrator of children’s books.

3.19.1993: Al McWilliams, the artist who created Dateline: Danger! with writer John Saunders, and Twin Earths with writer Oskar Lebeck, dies. He was 77. 

3.19.2006: Watch Your Head goes into syndication. Created by Cory Thomas, it focused on the lives of six students at a fictional historically black university. The strip ended its newspaper run in 2014, but later resurfaced online.
 

Most of the information listed here from one day to the next comes from two online sites -- Wikipedia, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia -- as well as 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, edited by Maurice Horn. Note that my focus is on American newspaper comic strips (and the occasional foreign strip that gained popularity in the United States). Thus, comic books and exclusively online comics are not included here.

The birth of an artist: March 19

 

Charles M. Russell
March 19, 1864

Albert Pinkham Ryder
March 19, 1847

Josef Albers
March 19, 1888

Monday, March 18, 2024

The New Yorker covers: February 27, 1971

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorkerwhich was founded in 1925.

Donald Reilly
(covers untitled until February 1993)

The (old) Down East covers: September 1960

Ever since its founding in 1954, Down East has billed itself as “the magazine of Maine.” There are other Maine-centered mags, but Down East remains the most prominent of the bunch. Nowadays, the Rockport-based monthly features glossy, memorable cover photos, but there's a lot to be said for the charming, old-timey look of covers from the publication’s early decades.

Earle G. Barlow, untitled