The New Yorker covers: December 24, 1927

I don’t get too excited about holidays, with one major exception. I’ve always had a warm spot in my heart for Christmas. The New Yorker has run many Christmas covers over the years, some of which, such as those by the late George Booth, are quite memorable.

 

Andre De Schaub
(covers untitled until February 1993)

The (old) Down East covers: July 1962

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.

Don Thayer, untitled

Movie Posters, 1978: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

 

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

“Green Apples and Scoop,” 1939, Walt Kuhn

Today in the history of the American comic strip: November 20

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.

11.20.1891: Jimmy Murphy, creator of Toots and Casper, is born in Chicago, Illinois. The domestic strip, which was unveiled in 1918, ran until 1956.

11.20.1900: Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould is born in Pawnee, Oklahoma. Gould's now-legendary detective began making his rounds in 1931, and remains on duty.

11.20.1944: Martha Links debuts Bobby Sox, a teen strip whose name was later changed to Emmy Lou. It ran until 1979.

11.20.1995: Stone Soup, by Jan Eliot, debuts as a syndicated strip. The comic ceased daily production in 2015 and Sunday publication in 2020.

Stone Soup

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: November 20

 

Paulus Potter
November 20, 1625 (baptized)

Mark Bradford
November 20, 1961

Albert Fitch Bellows
November 20, 1829

Roger Mello
November 20, 1965

Carol Tyler
November 20, 1951

Benjamin Champney
November 20, 1817

Arthur Elsley
November 20, 1860

The New Yorker covers: June 3, 2024

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 Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

 

Sergio Garcia Sánchez
"Scoot"