The New Yorker covers: January 12, 2026

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.

Harry Bliss
"Wintry Mix"

And now, a few words from . . . Gordon Eadie

If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.

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

"Mountain Forms," 1926, Lawren Harris

Movie Posters, 1941: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: March 22

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.

3.22.1903: Bill Holman, creator of the screwball comedy strip Smokey Stover, is born in Crawfordsville, Indiana. His strip ran from 1935 until Holman retired in 1973.

3.22.1929: Mort Drucker, best known for his work for Mad magazine over the course of more than five decades, is born in New York City. Drucker  got his start in cartooning by assisting Bert Whitman on the newspaper comic strip Debbie Dean in 1947.  Between 1984 and 1987, Drucker collaborated with Jerry Dumas (and John Reiner) on the daily comic strip Benchley, which spoofed President Ronald Reagan.
 
3.22.1971: Jay Stevens, half of the creative duo (with Bob Weber Jr.) that created Oh, Brother!, is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The strip, which only ran from 2010 to 2011, focused on Bud and his sister Lily, who live in a middle-class suburban neighborhood.

3.22.2019: The Amazing Spider-Man, a newspaper strip created by Stan Lee and John Romita, ends its four-decade run. The strip debuted in 1977, years after the title character first appeared in comic books.

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: November 22, 2010

When was the first thanksgiving in what would become the United States? Virginia says 1619 in, of course, Virginia. More familiar, though, is a 1621 feast in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, involving Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people. Competing claims aside, the American holiday is now celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

Wayne Thiebaud
"Circle Dip"

And now, a few words from . . . Martin Luther King Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.