Quiet Stories In Line

Sequential cartoons

Since it’s Saturday, and things are quiet, I will share a cartoon or two with you.

I’ve been drawing for The New Yorker since the 1980’s, and some of my favorite pieces I did have been sequential. The magazine used to run a lot of this kind of drawing, but now they primarily save sequential art for their section called Shouts and Murmurs—but those are more like illustrated stories, more akin to a comic strip. Sequential cartoons are a form in and of themselves. They aren’t “comics,” although comics certainly are “sequential.” What I’m talking about is a form of story-telling that is minimal, and usually very visual. And: the arrangement of images typically leads to a resolution at the end, like a punchline.

One of the early practitioners of this form was Otto Soglow.

The New Yorker, 1936

And this one is by Rea Irvin. These two are just the tip of the iceberg of sequential art in older issues of the magazine.

The New Yorker, 1940

The first drawing of mine that The New Yorker printed was sequential.

We are trying to put the one above in my documentary, and it’s a challange to make it work. In fact, many cartoons—single panel or not—don’t work well in a film because they are meant to be seen in a magazine, not on a large screen. It’s been interesting to figure that out— I do believe there is a close relationship between film and cartoons, however. Particularly sequential drawings, because they are almost like still animations.

This is another one that ran a few years later.

I love this form because it’s quiet, often simple, and the humor can be subtle. Here is a recent one of mine.

Anyway, thanks for a trip down memory lane. I hope you are enjoying your Saturday. See you tomorrow, thanks for being here.