Review: "The Shadow Friends," Tess Gerritsen

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The New Yorker covers: December 29, 1928

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are two sides of the same coin, and when it comes to magazine covers, both days have figured prominently. The New Yorker’s covers often gave a tip of the hat to the outgoing/incoming year. Or they focused on drunken revelry and its “morning after” consequences.

Rea Irvin
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Patti Smith

We wanted, it seemed, what we already had, a lover and a friend to create with, side by side. To be loyal, yet free.

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

"The Triumph of Bacchus/The Drunks," 1629, Diego Velázquez

Movie Posters, 2005: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn

Today in the history of the American comic strip: October 29

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.

10.29.1921: Bill Mauldin is born in Mountain Park, New Mexico. An editorial cartoonist later in life, he is best known for creating Willie and Joe, American infantrymen who served in Europe during World War Two. His wartime cartoons were popular with soldiers overseas and Americans at home. Mauldin twice won the Pulitzer Prize.

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: December 27, 2021

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.

Christoph Niemann
"Give Us a Clue"

And now, a few words from . . . Douglas Adams

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

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

"Lightning," 1910, Luigi Russolo