cover image Great Cartoonists and Their Art

Great Cartoonists and Their Art

Art Wood. Pelican Publishing Company, $25 (200pp) ISBN 978-0-88289-476-8

For comic strip and editorial cartoon fans enamored of nostalgia, this leisurely survey has its rewards. Newspaper cartoonists such as George McManus (Bringing Up Father, Rosie's Beau, Al Capp (Li'l Abner, Charles Payne (S'Matter, Pop and Milton Caniff (Steve Canyon are among Wood's heroes. He also devotes chapters to political cartoonists like ""Moco'' (Richard Yardley) and Cy Hungerford. Wood, a veteran cartoonist whose credits include Time and Newsweek, personally knew nearly every practitioner he writes about here. The self-indulgent autobiographical chapters describing his struggles to become a cartoonist hold less interest than his commentaries on other artists and his practical advice to aspiring cartoonists. Wood has observed nine presidents close-up, from Roosevelt to Reagan, and he offers cameos of them from a cartoonist's perspective. More than 125 comic strips and drawings enliven the narrative. (June 15)