The Cartoon & Poem Supplement

"The carpet pads"

Because it’s a long issue, which means more cartoons, I’m sending this one to all subscribers. Remember to pay up to get this every week!

Poems:

“Letter in April” by Marie T. Martin: A poem about communication across death and life, given some pathos by Martin’s untimely passing; this may even be a poem written to the dead self, or the future self that may be dying or dead. It doesn’t spark much in me, but it’s a curious glimmer.

“The terrible various” by Diane Seuss: Seuss, a master, can do whatever the hell she wants; this lands on a thudding pun and doesn’t have much to it besides, and still I’m willing to forgive all because its slim spine-self is so odd, gesturing at all that lies around and outside what is.

Cartoons:

Here's where to find the cartoons, with credits, in order.

Cover: One last take on Tilly for the centenary. Favre is a master of the meticulous vector curve, but this strikes me as a bit awkward; for one thing, that butterfly is very small…

Pg. 24: [NOTE: Not in the online slideshow for some reason, if you’re clicking along.] Ideally this would be done with a palindromic piece of music, so people on both sides of the plane could play it.

Pg. 27 [Sketchpad]: McCall was a hugely talented artist with an excellent signature style; he was also a corny right-winger of the “anti-Communist” set. Admire the image, ignore the caption.

Pg. 31: reddit.com/r/mangerlivingspace

Pg. 32: Interesting that while hunting is not inherently funny, trapping sort of is. As proven by Hundreds of Beavers.

Pg. 38: I mean, Make Way for Ducklings did take place in Boston.

Pg. 45: They have that, it’s called “a microwave that isn’t fifteen years old.” The other stuff, good luck.

Pg. 46: Not sure how much juice is left in “aren’t fairy tales weird if you think about it?!”

Pg. 51: A bit mushy, given that an actual first grade teacher could definitely incorporate this and the kids would probably laugh.

Pg. 56: Art by Lucido Johnson is casually stunning; I’d probably buy a print of it. Joke’s flat but you can’t win ‘em all.

Pg. 59: Am I missing something: Why the hell is there a monster in the woods??!

Pg. 63: Not even sure if the joke is an “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln” (there’s so much wrong no improvement matters) or a “two out of three ain’t bad” (they fixed everything but the lean). Dumb either way, but the incomprehensibility sure doesn’t help things!

Pg. 64: I’m oddly tickled by the idea that the carpet pad would initially stay with the carpet (static cling?) then fall off in midair. Best of the Week.

Pg. 68: The joke is that this stuff is inoffensive, but hilariously if any of this appeared in an art museum the right wing would call it baffling and hideous. I mean it’s basically Oldenberg, Katz, Kusama, and Chamberlain. And/or a single James Rosenquist painting.

Pg. 70: “What if these iconographic figures were a family” is pretty low-hanging.

Pg. 74: File under Wouldn’t Get a Laugh If You Said It in Real Life.

Pg. 77: Tom Gunning would have a field day.

Pg. 78: Alright, I’m not above enjoying a tiny drawing of a figure with a gigantic ass.

Pg. 81: Let’s Remember Some Pets: Florence Nightingale’s favorite cat, who “was partial to a little rice pudding with his 5 o’clock tea”.

Pg. 82: An illustration so delightful you hardly need the caption; still a good joke.

Pg. 86: Let’s Remember Some More Pets: I honestly think breeding dogs is pretty fucked up but I will still watch the National Dog Show when it’s on, and the Belgian Sheepdog that won is a genuinely gorgeous animal with soulful eyes. The best winner since Claire the deerhound, who won back to back, which is nuts that that’s even allowed. Definitely better than last year, which was won by a pug, a breed that is only cute when it’s hideous. A normal looking pug is an awful thing to behold.

Pg. 93: I was gonna say that’s not really what Charades is, but actually it makes sense that if penguins could play Charades they’d play the fucked up version for toddlers where you just guess things like “a lion”.

52 Years Ago Today

i picked this song and then looked it up and found out Quan died of a drug overdose last year – incredibly sad. I always felt he was just as good an artist as any of the figures from the Atlanta trap scene who got so huge; better than quite a few.

RIP RHQ