The New Yorker covers: October 12, 1981

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.

Robert Tallon
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Reinhold Niebuhr

The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.

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

“Paisagem com Touro” (Landscape with Bull), 1925, Tarsila do Amaral

Movie Posters, 1982: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: July 17

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.

7.17.1917: Mexican-American artist Gustavo "Gus" Arriola is born in Florence, Arizona. His strip Gordo introduced American readers to Mexican culture. Arriola won a Newspaper Comic Strip award from the National Cartoonists Society in 1965, eight years after he tied with Gasoline Alley's Frank King for the same award.

7.17.1956: Sergeant Orville Snorkel’s dog Otto makes his first appearance in Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey. Initially, Otto was a regular dog who walked on all fours, but he later acquired an Army uniform and walked upright.

7.17.1971: Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury avoids cancellation in a Macon, Georgia, newspaper, The Telegraph, thanks to a 27-22 win in a referendum.

7.17.2007: R. C. Harvey releases Meanwhile . . . , a biography of Milton Caniff, creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon.
 

Terry and the Pirates

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: August 7, 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 Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Charles E. Martin
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Gustave Flaubert

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.

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

"Zapatistas," ca. 1932, Alfredo Ramos Martinez

Movie Posters, 1937: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!