The New Yorker covers: April 29, 1972

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.

Abe Birnbaum
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . George Miller

The trouble with eating Italian food is that, five or six days later, you’re hungry again.

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

"The Son of the Miracle-Working Rabbi of Belz," before 1906, Isidor Kaufmann

Movie Posters, 1985: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: December 14

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.

12.14.1914: Jack Cole, creator of the short-lived Betsy and Me, is born in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

12.14.2016: Cartoonist Tony Millionaire announces that he is discontinuing Maakies, a darkly comic feature that went into publication in 1994. It followed the misadventures of dissolute characters, including Uncle Gabby and Drinky Crow.

 

12.14.2023: Doozy, the girl who befriended the chained and neglected Guard Dog in Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts comic strip and helped rescue him after he was abandoned, finally gets to adopt him.

Maakies

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: March 15, 1969

In this day and age, we associate St. Patrick’s Day with “the wearing of the green” and predictably heavy beer sales. But the March 17 holiday originated as a religious holy day honoring a 5th-century Christian bishop who worked in Ireland.

Anatol Kovarsky
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Erma Bombeck

Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.