The New Yorker’s Bob Mankoff at a recent TED salon. When Mankoff quit psychology school to become a cartoonist, he submitted 2,000 cartoons to the New Yorker that year. Of them, 2,000 were rejected. In 1997, he became the magazine’s cartoon editor.
Pair with the fantastic Fail Safe and Ray Bradbury’s advice on perseverance in the face of rejection.
The controversial 1972 “women’s liberation” issue of Wonder Woman, written by the great Samuel R. Delany. It was published months after the launch of legendary feminist magazine Ms., which forever changed the discourse on gender politics.
This is how humor works: It’s a conflict of synergies — we mashup these things that don’t belong together that temporarily exist in out minds.
A TED salon curated by Helen Walters, titled “Design Is Everywhere,” New Yorker cartoons editor Bob Mankoff illustrates his theory of humor with his most famous cartoon, which juxtaposes the syntax of politeness with the content of rudeness.
He also notes that the magazine calls cartoons “idea drawings” because an idea drawing “it requires thinking on behalf of cartoonish and thinking on behalf of reader to make it work.”
For more illustrative epitomes in action, see The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs.
Preliminary drawing (top) for 1950 comic strip adaptation (bottom) of Orwell’s Animal Farm, used by various embassies as anti-communist propaganda.
Pair with The Art of War adapted as a comic and The Graphic Canon, the fantastic anthology of comic adaptations of literary classics.
Message to a graduate – the inimitable Grant Snyder brings his brand of comic irreverence to the seasonal standby of commencement addresses and their cliches.
But not all graduation speeches are created equal: Here are some of history’s most timelessly uplifting and thought-provoking speakers: Greil Marcus, Ann Patchett, Jacqueline Novogratz, Neil Gaiman, David Foster Wallace, Ellen DeGeneres, Aaron Sorkin, Barack Obama, Ray Bradbury, J. K. Rowling, Steve Jobs, Robert Krulwich, Meryl Streep, and Jeff Bezos.
23 celebrated cartoonists, including Art Spiegelman and Roz Chast, unite to demand action against gun violence.
A a time when 33 people are murdered with guns every day in America and homicide rates in the United States exceed those of other high-income nations by 690%, it’s tragic how little progress we’ve made since 1944.
Also see Stephen King on gun control and violence.
Sign the petition to end gun violence here and consider sparing your daily coffee in donating to the cause.
Two of pop culture’s greatest darlings, together at last: Star Wars reimagined as a Muppets comic – enough said.
The inimitable Grant Snider strikes again, with the day jobs of famous poets – including Jack Kerouac (railroad worker), Charles Bukowski (mailman), Emily Dickinson (cat-keeper), and T. S. Eliot (bank clerk.)
![A lot of people have an idea of [the Superman] character as boring, as the ultimate boy scout, as goody-goody, as not relatable, as too powerful. So when I took a look at this character the course of the 75 years, you see that everything about this character changes except for one thing, and that’s his motivation. His motivation is at once the simplest of all motivations. He’s a hero, which means, A, he puts the needs of others over those of himself and, B, he never gives up. Simple but it’s the hardest to unpack because it’s an unquestioned kind of heroism that has driven him for years and years.
Comic book geek Glen Weldon talks to NPR about his new unauthorized biography of Superman.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/340186437217edae969532ef1daba9ac/tumblr_mluf3o8arJ1rqpa8po1_400.jpg)
A lot of people have an idea of [the Superman] character as boring, as the ultimate boy scout, as goody-goody, as not relatable, as too powerful. So when I took a look at this character the course of the 75 years, you see that everything about this character changes except for one thing, and that’s his motivation. His motivation is at once the simplest of all motivations. He’s a hero, which means, A, he puts the needs of others over those of himself and, B, he never gives up. Simple but it’s the hardest to unpack because it’s an unquestioned kind of heroism that has driven him for years and years.
Comic book geek Glen Weldon talks to NPR about his new unauthorized biography of Superman.
The ever-delightful Grant Snyder adds to history’s definitions of genius.
Available as a print in Grant’s poster shop.
Complement with the 1942 gem Anatomy of Inspiration.
The latest episode of PBS Off Book explores the evolution of web comics. Complement with the best graphic novels and comic nonfiction of 2012.
The ceaselessly brilliant Grant Snyder is back with performance-enhancing drugs for writers. Enhance your performance drug-free with some sage advice on the craft from famous writers.
The inimitable Grant Snyder – who as previously given us an illustrated ode to introverts, a visual meditation on book-burning, and Haruki Murakami bingo – is back with a comic look at better bookshelves.
