Nextplease

Swarthmore College recently hosted a lecture by the New Yorker magazine’s cartoon editor Robert Mankoff.

Mankoff, who is a great cartoonist himself, opened with some background information on the New Yorker’s cartoon archives (they have scrapbooks with all the cartoons in them by artist and tagged with keywords), his work-flow process (he sifts through over a 1000 cartoon submissions a week to select 30-40 to review with magazine editor-in-chief David Remnick), and then talked about his recent research into what makes a cartoon funny and how people look at cartoons. He talked about how effective cartoons allow the user to suspend belief and often show an incongruence of ideas. He said “Anything can be funny, but nothing is funny to everybody.” So that’s why I sometimes scratch my head wondering what a particular New Yorker cartoon is about!

I was surprised to see he’s been working with the University of Michigan conducting experiments using the same “eye-tracking” tools used in website usability research. This technology uses cameras to track the viewer’s eye movements on the page and shows where the design (or in this case the cartoon) fails and succeeds.

He also talked about the weekly cartoon caption contest that the magazine now runs and showed us some screen shots of a computer program that helps them sort and filter the over 6000 caption submissions a week by word groups and subjects. Mankoff, who clearly loves technology and academic research, is the president of the Cartoonbank.com website which which he founded in 1992, a site that allows you to license New Yorker cartoons and buy merchandise featuring New Yorker cartoons.

While I’m not a big fan of the caption contest, and not really sure why he’s doing this research (who’s paying for this—The New Yorker? Did he get grant money? Will this tell us how to draw the ultimate cartoon?), it was great to hear him speak and see some of the inner workings of a magazine that I’ve been reading for over 25 years.

15 Responses to “New Yorker Cartoon Editor – Robert Mankoff”

1. Rob Weychert says:

   9/22/2005 at 4:57 pm

   Crap! I wish I’d heard about this before it happened instead of after. :(
2. Dean says:

   9/22/2005 at 5:55 pm

   Sorry Rob! – check the Swarthmore site – they have free lectures and events that are often worth checking out.

   I could have sworn I saw Sutter there but it turned out not to be him…
3. sutter says:

   10/3/2005 at 8:28 am

   yeah, i wish i had heard about this too. I often think about the psychology of reading comics as well (though it may not show.)
4. chet van meer says:

   12/2/2006 at 5:00 pm

   This may seem to be a stupid question but I cannot seem to find
   any sort of an address to submit cartoons to.Mailed one packet to
   20 west 43rd and it came back as undeliverable.Any advice would be
   appreciated,being 84 years old,I do not have much time to waste.

   Thank you. C.M.Van Meer
5. Dean says:

   2/15/2007 at 5:11 pm

   For those of you that have emailed me – to submit cartoons to the New Yorker, see this info on the Cartoonbank site:

   Q. How can I submit cartoons to Cartoonbank.com?

   A. Cartoonbank.com is not accepting unsolicited artwork at this time. However, if you are interested in submitting cartoons to The New Yorker Magazine, please send copies of them (NOT originals) to:

   The New Yorker Magazine
   ATTN: Cartoon Editor
   4 Times Square
   New York, NY 10036
6. Jay Treadwell says:

   12/12/2007 at 2:28 pm

   I’ve looked high and Low on the website and cannot figure out how to submit a cartoon. Can you help?
   Jay
7. Sidney Gendin says:

   8/6/2010 at 1:08 pm

   I have a collection of over 100 irreverent cartoon ideas but I don’t draw. I would like to submit an example or two. How do I proceed?
8. isaac quint says:

   9/22/2010 at 10:21 am

   I can draw, sidney Gendin. E mail me. Also, I too am over 70 with 100′s of cartoons. (Chet Van Meer) Neither of us have much time. Perhaps we can do an old fart comic book.

   Isaac
9. jne muller says:

   1/3/2011 at 1:45 pm

   The New Yorker Magazine
   ATTN: Cartoon Editor
   4 Times Square/Users/jnemuller/Desktop/MaleFemaleParts.jpg
   New York, NY 10036

   Is there a way to email?
10. david schmidt says:

    4/26/2011 at 6:54 pm

    I sent over 90 cartoons in to the New Yorker over a month ago and have not heard anything …how long should it take ? and will they reply back if they reject them all or not ?
11. beverly morrisey says:

    6/26/2011 at 6:18 pm

    Sidney Gendin and Isaac Quint: Just checking out Robert Mankoff’s cartoon site–I’m sending cartoons to the New Yorker. Came across your comments and because I’m over 70, thought, well, why draw an “old fart’s cartoon book!”

    Beverly Morrisey
12. beverly morrisey says:

    6/26/2011 at 9:20 pm

    mistake in message: “well, why NOT draw an ‘old fart’s cartoon book!’” BJM
13. beverly morrisey says:

    6/27/2011 at 6:38 pm

    Well, my mistake proves I’m over 70!!
14. Bonhui Uy says:

    7/1/2011 at 1:04 pm

    Is there anyway to submit cartoon drawings through email, or by mail only? What is the email address?

    Do you submit cartoon and for cover drawings separately?

    Thank you!

    Bonhui Uy
15. Isaac Quint says:

    12/18/2011 at 1:17 pm

    Tough to get a good website when I’m Illiterate
    myself. My website sucks. Any suggestions?
    Tried to get Dave Grandlunds web designer, but he refused me.