The New Yorker covers: March 11,1996

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.

Lorenzo Mattotti
"Warm Front"

And now, a few words from . . . Diego Velazquez

I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art.

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

"Grace Rose," 1866, Frederick Sandys

Movie Posters, 2020: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: October 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 are form.

10.3.1943: Dan Dunn, whose eponymous hero was a hardboiled detective, closes his last case after 10 years on newspaper comics pages.

10.3.1977: Ron Goulart and Gil Kane unveil Star Hawks, a short-lived science-fiction strip that ran from 1977 to 1981.

10.3.1982: Noel Sickles dies in Tucson, Arizona. After initially illustrating the adventure strip Scorchy Smith as a ghost artist, Sickles signed his name to the comic following the 1934 death of creator John Terry, but Sickles moved on about two years later.

10.3.1988: Ray Billingsley’s Curtis makes its debut. The comic, which has a predominantly African-American cast, remains in syndication.

10.3.1988: Bill Holbrook launches Safe Havens as a weekday-only strip. The comic originally involved a group of pre-schoolers, but the focus changed over time.
 
10.3.2010: After 34 years on the comics pages, Cathy Guisewite's Cathy ends its run. The final strip includes the revelation that Cathy is pregnant with a girl.

Cathy

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: June 30, 1986

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.

Gretchen Dow Simpson
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Bill Gates

In China, when you’re one in a million, there are 1,300 people just like you.

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

"West Point, Prout's Neck," ca. 1900, Winslow Homer

Movie Posters, 2009: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!