The New Yorker covers: February 14 & 21, 2005

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.

Chris Ware
"A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings"

The (old) Down East covers: July 1975

Ever since its founding in 1954, Down East has billed itself as “the magazine of Maine.” There are other Maine-centered mags, but Down East remains the most prominent of the bunch. Nowadays, the Rockport-based monthly features glossy, memorable cover photos, but there's a lot to be said for the charming, old-timey look of covers from the publication’s early decades.

Scott Anthony, "Old House on Vinalhaven"

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

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

"La Carrière de Bibémus" (The Quarry at Bibémus), 1898–1900, Paul Cézanne

Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 23

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.

4.23.1916: The first Sunday strip of George Herriman's Krazy Kat appears. One of the most innovative and admired comics of all time, Krazy Kat ran until 1944.

4.23.1963: Al Fagaly dies at 54. With Harry Shorten, he created Bitter Laff (later known as There Oughta Be a Law!) in 1945. It ran until 1985.

4.3.1978: The World’s Greatest Superheroes, a seven-day-a-week strip featuring DC Comics characters, makes its debut. It initially starred Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Black Lightning, but it underwent several title change as Superman became the primary character. The strip ran until February 1985.
 
4.23.2001: PreTeena, a strip about a 10-year-old girl named Teena Keene, debuts. Created by Allison Barrows, the comic remained in print until 2008.

4.23.2020: Slate.com reports that Cathy Guisewite, whose Cathy strip ended in 2010, is posting one-panel Cathy cartoons on Instagram. The article reported that, since mid-March, all of the Instagram Cathy comics have dealt with life in quarantine, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Krazy Kat

 

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 birth of an artist: April 23

 

J.M.W. Turner
April 23, 1775

Carl Moll
April 23, 1861

Earth Day greetings from Walt Kelly and Pogo Possum

Here's a rather famous Earth Day cartoon by the late Walt Kelly, creator of the long-gone but beloved comic strip Pogo. Kelly is believed to have first used the line "we have met the enemy and he is us" on the first Earth Day, in 1970. He revived it in a two-panel cartoon in 1971, and again in 1972, as the title of a collection of Pogo strips.

Kelly's message paraphrases the report that Oliver Hazard Perry sent to Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison on Sept. 10, 1813, after Perry's fleet defeated a British fleet on Lake Erie during the War of 1812: "Dear Gen'l: We have met the enemy, and they are ours, two ships, two brigs, one  schooner and one sloop. Yours with great respect and esteem. H. Perry."

 

The New Yorker covers: October 18, 1993

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.

Bruce McCall
"Bronx Cheer"