The most memorable New Yorker strips from the 1920s through the 1990s offers readers a visual tour of the sophisticated humor that has made the magazine, and its cartoon art, legendary.
Robert Mankoff is an American cartoonist, editor, and author. He was the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for nearly twenty years. Before he succeeded Lee Lorenz as cartoon editor at The New Yorker, Mankoff was a New Yorker cartoonist for twenty years.
As you would expect from The New Yorker, a sublime collection of witty cartoons and artwork which never seems to be dated. Not laugh out loud or crass humor, just amusing, intelligent observations of the human condition.
"Now me, you couldn't pay me to read an introduction to a cartoon book. I'd jump straight to the cartoons. You could, however, pay me to write one. Even so, I'm still tempted to stop writing and jump ahead. More than tempted, actually. I'll be back in a minute; wait right here... Okay. I'm back now, ready to blurb my brains out." ~ Bob Mankoff
This "riotous panorama" of humor did put a smile on my face, but it wasn't riotous. There were several cartoons that I didn't understand, but I found quite a few that met my vague requirements for a cartoon that warrants saving.
I wish that each featured cartoon had been labeled, including creator and publication date.
I found this book in a Little Free Library in Germantown. Read most of it today while I was curled up on the couch sick. I was surprised how many of the cartoons I didn’t really get…and the ones that I did understand had more of a “hum” reaction than a 🤣 reaction. Maybe one-panel cartoons are just not my cup of tea.
This is when it's good to have a bad memory because I forget the cartoons in between looking at it and they make me laugh every damn time....oh those silly, silly lemmings. The only drawbacks of this book are the dimensions and thickness. I think the newer collection which is more comprehensive and bigger than my ass in it's 9th month of pregnancy should be banned for it atrocious bulkyness. Note to Sarah: I can't figure out how to put the beautifuly proprtioned Mother Goose collection on to this site (can't find it, can't download it whatever).