For a magazine that’s been around for more than a century, one might suppose that it has had its act together for much of that time. But the truth is: has been restless since its debut in the mid-Roaring Twenties. That restlessness, defined by a desire and openness to change, has been, and continues to be, its core strength.
The magazine that made a name for itself in the last millennium is in some ways not the magazine it is today. And we hope that of a hundred years from now will not be a duplicate of the current magazine. It has always been the magazine of surprise, beginning with issue #1’s cover by Rea Irvin of an oddly compelling top-hatted Victorian-era gent (soon to be dubbed Eustace Tilley).
The magazine’s cartoonists have kept the element of surprise afloat to this very day. Who among us does not flip through the latest issue to see the cartoons, looking and hoping to be surprised. My guess is that not a year has gone by—not even a month in a year—without someone somewhere saying that the cartoons “aren’t as funny as they used to be.
” If we’re lucky, that will continue as long as there’s a . Change at the magazine means that the idea of what’s funny changes. In 2025, cartoonists should not be trying to mimic cartoons that tickled funny bones in 1925—they should be capturing the humor of the present.
Looking at a 1920s cartoon will inform you of that era’s fashion and concerns and behaviors, and even politics. The same can be said for the ca.