Richard Gehr

I'm a fan of biographies and memoirs, even those about people who have slipped under my radar. And I'm a fan of New Yorker cartoons, so this book, subtitled The New Yorker's Most Brilliantly Twisted Artists, should have been right up my alley.

I'm afraid it just wasn't interesting to me, and I found myself skimming through it just to finish it.

Sure, some of the cartoonists are interesting people. But the book was not in-depth enough about any of them to give me a real sense of their lives. There were some interesting anecdotes. While some of the cartoons may be twisted, the artists themselves are generally not too out of the ordinary.

On the other hand, there was way more than I wanted about what pencils or pens or brushes the artists used, how much they were paid for cartoons, who accepted their first cartoons.

There are some cartoons in the book, always enjoyable, and descriptions of even more.

Perhaps this is a good book for budding cartoonists who want to know about getting into the field. This seems like a niche book, with a fairly limited niche. As much as I wanted to like this book, I'm afraid I don't fit into the niche.

I was given an advance readers copy of this book for review.… (mehr)

So THAT’S who they are!

There are difficult books, controversial books, and annoying books, but any book about New Yorker cartoonists has the automatic advantage and headstart of implying pure, noncontroversial and unquestionable pleasure. In this case, Richard Gehr’s profiles of a dozen current cartoonists puts faces and histories to the names at the bottom of the artwork. Gehr has been enormously fair, allocating space and covering the same territory with each of them. They are detailed to the point of listing what pens, inks and papers each works with, and when. About the only thing missing is if they are lefthanded or righthanded. I’m a little surprised he didn’t note that.

They are as ordinary and as wild as any mix of creatives. They have been slackers, draft avoiders, hippies and beatniks, and also suburban parents, multiple job holders and local volunteers. They have been at it since childhood, or come to it late. It was interesting to discover that a majority of today’s New Yorker cartoonists has at least one parent who was schoolteacher. And while most of them spent a lot of time in New York City, now they can and do live all over the country.

I gather there were copyright issues, as most of the cartoons are previously unpublished roughs. That’s a pity, since their cartoons are available in the New Yorker’s Cartoon Bank, and this is one book that should be visually demonstrating what it talks about. Instead, we get long verbal descriptions of their first, their best and their favorite cartoons.

My own favorite is Gahan Wilson, who has been hiding in plain sight for decades. He is getting more recognition now, as you can see in my review of the new biopic documentary Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, which I thought should have been titled About Bloody Time.

There aren’t many revelations in I Only Read It For The Cartoons, except maybe for defining the odds of a cartoon being accepted. The chances are less than .075%. As magazines have folded, and online has no white space problem, the New Yorker is one of the last places you can even submit a cartoon. The result is thousands being submitted every week, including 5000 captions for the back page (and online) caption contest. So profiling the rare birds whose work is regularly accepted provides another level of insight – and enjoyment.… (mehr)