The New Yorker covers: June 24, 2013

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.

Richard McGuire
"Uncle Sam Is Listening"

And now, a few words from . . . Art Calder

Art should not be lugubrious.

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

untitled, 1959, Maurice Sendak
illustration for "The Moon Jumpers," by Janice May Udry

Movie Posters, 1952: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: September 13

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.

9.13.1977: Jeff MacNelly releases a flock of anthropomorphized birds in Shoe, a strip that remains in print.

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 4, 2006

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.

Bob Staake
"Back to Cool"

And now, a few words from . . . Dan Quayle

If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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

"The Night Train," ca. 1890, Lionel Walden

Movie Posters, 1962: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!