A Drawing the World Has Never Seen

Now You See Me Two was a missed opportunity for a fun pun movie title this isn't exactly a relevant subheading but also I'm the editor so it's my rules mwahaha just how long can a subheading go I gue

We cartoonists have carefully curated personas. For you, our adoring public, we display only the work we deem ready to be discussed and dissected. UNTIL NOW.

Hi there, friends, it’s Jason Katzenstein. This week I’ve asked this cadre of public personalities to bare all, get intimate, open up. If you’re a ToonStack reader, here’s a little something special, a world (world!) premier (premier!) collection of work never before seen in public!

Ellis Rosen

Sigh. I suppose now is the time to call it. Time of post, Sunday afternoon. Goodbye sweet toon. You see, I’ve been holding on to this cartoon for years, hoping that someone would buy it. I’ve submitted it, resubmitted it, re-resubmitted it, but alas, this poor toon never had a chance. So now, on this very Toonstack, I shall post it here, ensuring I can never sell it to a magazine. I love this toon, you see. I love it very much and I was confident that I could sell it. But confidence isn’t worth a penny in a magic-less fountain (a very old and real expression people say a lot), and in the end, I just have to accept this and post it here with my ToonStack family. So I won’t make money off of it. So what? ToonStack is home to many great cartoons, and this one should be proud to live here. And hey, who knows, maybe the right person will see this and demand a print faster than you can ride a cheetah in a snail race (I believe Lincoln coined that).

Johnny DiNapoli

This cartoon was rejected by The New Yorker on the grounds of being too sexy (I assume).

Navied Mahdavian

Sometimes a cartoon is so dumb you don’t submit it to The New Yorker. Sometimes it’s so gross you don’t even post it to Instagram. Sometimes a cartoon is so dumb and gross you don’t show it to anyone. 

*sound of flushing*

(Editor’s note: ask Navied why this character is wearing a Jurassic Park shirt.)

Amy Kurzweil 

Jason is asking me to post a cartoon I’ve never shown anyone, but the truth is: Jason has seen every cartoon I’ve ever drawn, like usually multiple versions of the cartoon, immediately after it pops into existence, sometimes before it exists. I scribble the messiest dribble of a pencil-sketched idea and immediately text it to Jason et all to ask is this funny? You’ve seen the best and rest of me ToonStack! There’s nothing else to show! Oh well, here’s a cartoon about different ways of seeing.

Jason Adam Katzenstein

These are some drawings I made that tell the story of my first word. I wanted to use them in a book—maybe one day I will use them in a book—but it has, up until this moment, been tucked away for my eyes only. I miss that balloon.

Sofia Warren

Unfortunately, the person who has seen this is our editor, who continues to show great clemency for the crime of sending her uninterpretable cartoons.

Here is a list to find your local abortion fund to donate to. <3

News from ToonStackians:

• New book alert! Sofia Warren’s Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator is out and available to order here.

• Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class, and join the next live class!

• Listen to Hilary’s brand new podcast What’d You Do This Weekend?

• Order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams, out now!

• Have you checked out cartoonstock.com? Thanks to New Yorker cartoon editor emeritus, Bob Mankoff, this is the place to license and buy prints and merch of the best cartoons in the world, from The New Yorker, Wired, Airmail and...ToonStack! 

• Be sure to check out Shelby Lorman’s newsletter, Please Clap!

• The same goes for Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!

• See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!

• AND HEY, WE ALWAYS APPRECIATE YA TAKING THE TIME TO: