The New Yorker covers: September 20, 1976

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.

Saul Steinberg
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Frank Zappa

So many books, so little time.

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

“St. Anthony Harbour, Newfoundland,” no date, Florence H. McGillivray

Movie Posters, 1998: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn

Today in the history of the American comic strip: November 3

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.

11.3.1897: F.O. Alexander is born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1931, he took over Hairbreadth Harry following the death of its creator, C.W. Kahles. Alexander produced the strip until 1939.

11.3.1957: Charles M. Schulz of Peanuts fame creates It’s Only a Game, a sports-and-game-oriented comic that ran four times a week for 14 months. Fellow cartoonist Jim Sasseville worked with Schulz on the short-lived strip. 

11.3.1986: The Middletons premieres. Created by Ralph Dunagin and Dana Summers, the strip s set in a town called Middleton and features a suburban family and their neighbors.

Hairbreadth Harry

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 New Yorker covers: September 21, 1968

Wikipedia describes a cityscape as “an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area. It is the urban equivalent of a landscape.” The New Yorker, which is based in New York City, has displayed a fair number of cityscapes on its cover.

Arthur Getz
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Oscar Wilde

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

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

"Zeichen in Gelb," 1937, Paul Klee

Movie Posters, 2026: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn