Home > CR Reviews
The New Yorker Book Of Mom Cartoons
posted June 10, 2008
Creators: Various
Publishing Information: Andrews McMeel, soft cover, 104 pages, 2008, $12.99
Ordering Numbers: 9780740776038 (ISBN13), 0740776037 (ISBN10)
I'm not certain how the
New Yorker cartoons are being collected these days, who beyond Roz Chast has their own book contract or how outside of the massive collections of the cartoons and then the magazine entire the comics material is released. This looks like a theme book, a gift book, something that would go in a selection of Mother's Day selections and in the novelty part of the bookstore rather than obsessed over by cartoon fans. In that light, I found it to be pretty good, although I probably think more of the
New Yorker stuff these days, while not groundbreaking tends to be competently done with decent gags. The only kind of humor that doesn't hit on a regular basis here is a kind of weak sister to the absurd, angry insult line that's one of the
New Yorker hallmarks. There's a sample one below: they seem awfully strained as a group, even out of touch, although that may simply be my sense of humor. clashing with the cartoonists'. Some of the better gags between the covers are actually kid jokes rather than Mom jokes, with out-sized actors addressing some of the complexities of life in a way that outstrips the situation. Let me put it to you like this: my Mom liked the book when I put it in her restroom on Mother's Day, which also means it's not one that I kept for my personal library. It's fine, although if you're hypersensitive to the genius of some of the magazine's best gag people you might even be angry at this group of panels or any others that simply settle at fine.