Latest Addition To The Spill Library: Spiegelman’s Co-Mix

It’s only taken me 13 years to get around to buying Art Spiegelman’s Co-Mix. The truth is, I wasn’t really aware of it until the other day. Mr. Spiegelman’s short New Yorker ride (1992-2003) was mostly focused on cover art. As long-time Spill readers know, the focus here is on the magazine’s cartoonists (New Yorker cover art is mentioned largely because a number of the magazine’s cartoonists — but mostly in the past — have contributed covers. Perry Barlow, mentioned below, is one shining example; then there’s the small number of cover artists who contributed a few cartoons. The great cover artist Arthur Getz is an example).

Mr. Spiegelman’s roots did not include The New Yorker (“… it must be said – I never read the earlier editions of the magazine.”) *– he came out of the underground comics world. Due to my early interest in underground comics,** the Spill library has on its shelves a small number of underground/comix-centric books and publications. I found Co-Mix to be an excellent addition to that part of the collection. The book includes a timeline (I love that form of capsule biography), as well as a selected bibliography. Much to digest there. There’s an interesting section on Spiegelman’s New Yorker covers (footnote: his wife was — and is currently — the covers editor). We are shown several covers as they developed (I guess that’s called “process”). I liked seeing a few rejected covers as well.

It’s highly unusual for an artist to leave (or as it’s described in this book, “drift away” from) The New Yorker. But that’s exactly what Spiegelman did in 2003. He “drifted away” in the form of not renewing his New Yorker contract. At the time, the non-renewal received some attention in the press. Speaking to The Observer in January of that year, Spiegelman said:

“I find as much fault with David Remnick’s New Yorker as I do with American media in general,” Mr. Spiegelman continued. “It’s insanely timid. But that’s a criticism I’m not leveling at David. It’s part of the zeitgeist right now. And it’s why I feel I’m in internal exile.” 

*The Observer, Jan. 6, 2003, “Spiegelman Splits From The New Yorker“

Further reading:

** Ink Spill, June 23, 2024,  “Personal History: A Graphic Family Tree”

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A New Yorker State Of Mind Looks At The Issue Of May 23, 1936

A Spill fave blog, A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker Magazine, as usual, does an excellent  job of digging into a long ago issue of the magazine.

Read it here.

Cover by Perry Barlow. His A-Z Entry:

Perry Barlow ( photo above from barlowgeneology.com) Born 1892, McKinney, Texas. Died, Westport, Connecticut, December 26,1977. New Yorker work: 1926 -1974, with 1,574 drawings and 135 covers. According to Barlow’s obit in The New York Times (Dec. 27, 1977) William Shawn called him “one of the gentlest and most humane of all comic artists…he was also one of our three or four most prolific people.” In the same piece, James Geraghty (The New Yorker’s Art editor from 1939 thru 1973) said “he often tried to interest Mr. Barlow in publishing a book of his drawings ‘but he was halfhearted about it.’” Mr. Barlow’s wife, Dorothy Hope Smith, played a role in his work: she colored-in his covers because her husband was partly color blind.

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A New Yorker State Of Mind Digs Into The Issue Of May 30, 1936

A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker Magazine does its usual (and quite wonderful) deep dive into a long ago issue of the magazine. This week it’s The New Yorker of May 30, 1936.

Read it here

Cover by the one-and-only Rea Irvin. His A-Z Entry:

Rea Irvin  Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.

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Perlman’s Pod

Asher Perlman, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2021, has announced he’s starting a podcast. His latest cartoon collection is Hi, It’s Me Again (Andrews McMeel).

From Mr. Perlman:

As more adults cut off their parents, a researcher calls for closer scrutiny of causes and effects, and suggests paths to reconciliation

As diagnoses surge, so does an unregulated coaching industry

Changes in neural connections due to substance use and withdrawal are long-lasting, and craving can peak well into abstinence. Understanding this process could inspire drugs to support recovery.

What the science of self-awareness can tell us about confident decision-making

Exhibit Of Interest: Mick Stevens to Show Work On Martha’s Vineyard 

Mick Stevens, who began contributing to The New Yorker in December of 1979, tells the Spill that:

“There’s a show of a dozen or so of my older original New Yorker drawings here at The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven. The show will run for the entire month of May. The artist will be lurking there from time to time.”

Here’s a personal fave New Yorker drawing by Mr. Stevens (not sure this will be included in the exhibit) :

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Some Stevens Cartoon Collections…

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A New Yorker State Of Mind Looks At The Issue Of April 18, 1936

Such fun New Yorker time traveling via the weekly New Yorker State of Mind posts.

This week: the issue of April 18, 1936.

Read it here!

Cover by the one-and-only Rea Irvin.

A New Yorker State Of Mind Digs Into The Issue Of April 11, 1936

A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker: always fun, always interesting reading.

This week: the issue of April 11, 1936. Read it here. 

Cover by Helen Hokinson.

Her A-Z Entry:

Helen Hokinson (above) Born, Illinois,1893; died, Washington, D.C., 1949. New Yorker work: 1925 -1949, with some work published posthumously. All of Hokinson’s collections are wonderful, but here are two favorites. Her first collection: So You’re Going To Buy A Book! (Minton, Balch & Co, 1931) and what was billed as “the final Hokinson collection”: The Hokinson Festival (Dutton & Co., 1956). According to a New Yorker document produced during Harold Ross’s editorship (1925-1951) rating their artists, Ms. Hokinson and Peter Arno occupied a special category unto themselves above all others.

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Liza Donnelly Talks About Women Laughing Doc Screening In Inwood

Here’s another opportunity to see Women Laughing, Kathleen Hughes’ & Liza Donnelly’s short documentary film on The New Yorker‘s Women cartoonists. The film will be shown at the Inwood Film Fest this coming Saturday (full schedule here).

You can listen to Ms. Donnelly speaking about the film on the Inwood podcast, “Inwood Art Works On Air” here.  And/or…you can see her on the very same podcast here on Youtube.

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A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue of The New Yorker Magazine digs deep into the issue of May 16, 1936. E.B. White’s somewhat famous piece on Ford’s Model T, a Thurber reference explained, ads, and so much more!

Read it here

Cover by Leonard Dove. His Spill A-Z entry below:

Leonard Dove (self portrait, 1941; photo: 1947) Born 1906, Great Yarmouth, England. Died, Gramercy Hotel, New York City, January, 1972. New Yorker work: Dec. 17, 1927 – Jan. 18, 1964. 57 New Yorker covers; 717 New Yorker cartoons. 

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Rich Feldmann Summertime Exhibit Of Interest

Mr. Feldmann began contributing to The New Yorker in 2012.

Neuroscientists are discovering that spending time with others may be a basic biological necessity, like need for food or water