Crumbโnot to hold back anything in their cover sketches. Tasteless humor and failed setups are an essential part of the process. I talked to Mouly about the most incendiary sketches, the difficulty of publishing serious covers over Christmas, and why she heartily recommends listening to Rush Limbaugh. Barry Blitt's illustration mocking terrorism fears was never used; the reference to Diet Coke and Mentosโa very low-level explosive combinationโwas deemed too obscure.
These early sketches of Blitt's idea, first with a pair of children and then with two businessmen below , didn't work because they weren't specific enough. But the general outline is that I set up a lineup every season of evergreen covers. And then there are timely political images or things that seems like the right idea at the right timeโit can be a tsunami in Japan, but it can also simply be something that defines a time.
Recently we did an image around the Republican primaries that involved a dog on top of a car , and that certainly was timely. When we have something like that, then we are poised to upset the apple cart, and that can be turned around in as little as 24 hours.
We seldom have illustrations of cover stories on our covers. So we are dependent. I went to the library, and I looked at the storytelling images of the early days of The New Yorker โPeter Arno, Rea Irvinโand it did paint a portrait of the times, of what urban sophisticates chuckled at and attitudes, prejudices. I think you can get a very nuanced portrait of the society in images, because they talk about emotions beyond rationalization. There are not too many other venues for that.
Christoph Niemann's sketch played on widespread anti-French sentiments in the U. How many sketches do you receive from your regular contributors?
