HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
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Hello, dearest readers! It’s me, Jason Adam Katzenstein! Did you ever play a record backwards to find a hidden meaning? I have. Turns out there’s a lot more overt meaning in most records when you play them forwards.
Cartoons are an amazing form for making text out of subtext, for taking the hidden and revealing it, and for revealing that it’s not even that well-hidden to begin with!
And for an extra special treat, take every third letter in the second paragraph and combine them to — no, I can’t do it, I’m sorry! I was going to send you on a wild goose chase, and that would be cruel. Instead, sit back, relax, and delight in the barely-hidden wonders of our cartoon worlds.
Sofia Warren
There isn’t a hidden meaning in this cartoon, but it is a cartoon about the hidden-in-plain-sight world on the subway tracks. We cartoonists are all about lookin’ at stuff sideways, you know? Like, when you see a lady walking a dog, you probably think, “that’s a lady walking a dog.” But a cartoonist thinks, “what’s that dog thinking about?” And that’s comedy.
Ellis Rosen
One topic I like to explore is the classic genre, “grumpy guy in an armchair.” I have a bunch of toons about this guy, whether his name is Murray, Fred or Frank. These men, they have SO MUCH to say, but they do so silently. If you want to hear their words, you must listen to the gleam of their glasses, the twitch of their tenseness, the minute movements of their mustache. What I do, as a grumpy old man-ologist, is take what's not spoken out loud and spell it out in, ahem, frank terms. I do this mainly for science, it's my way of giving back to the world, but for whatever reason my findings only get published in cartoon magazines.
Hilary Campbell
Here’s the thing I’m always like, “my feet are cold” but what if I said it while I was INSIDE a giant cocktail and my feet were literally on blocks of ice? Feels… obvious…. But also… funny.
Johnny DiNapoli
Dude, you ever watch The Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon? I haven’t. But one time I was drawing and listening to Van Halen while Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was on in the background. And the intro riff to Runnin’ with the Devil hit right when Wonka walks out of the factory for the first time, and that was pretty funny.
Anyway, here’s the list of names I came up with before deciding on Wubblezubb: Beelzax, Zorbax, Zeffix, Fizzix, Zubblefax, Zubzat, Fluzzlebax, Fizfluzz, Gorzax, Gorzlebub, Gugozorp, Googazorp, Gooblezap, Glorbo, Zubbo, Za, Glorbax, Glibglob, and finally, Wubblezubb.
Shelby Lorman
Well, here it is, like Hilary Duff I’m coming clean: the “person” in this cartoon, and in many others I’ve drawn to expertly look like anyone? They are me. I am “person.” It’s been me all along.
Jason Adam Katzenstein
The director Ernst Lubitsch apparently said to Billy Wilder, “Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.” And you, dear audience, are complicit in the gag of these cartoons, which happen out-of-frame and tucked in your imaginations.
So do you love me forever now?
Kendra Allenby
How did you think fast fashion worked? Well, when I see a lady walking a dog I think, “wow, that dog’s wearing a sweater.” Then naturally I wonder “how was that tiny sweater weaned from its big, fuzzy, mommy sweater?” And that’s comedy.
Navied Mahdavian
There was always that one kid in elementary school who’d circle Waldo on every page, effectively making Where’s Waldo just…Waldo. Cause he’s right there. On every page with a fat purple magic marker circle around him. That kid is probably a hedge fund manager today.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S SOME EXTRA STUFF HERE!
(Like a scene tucked into the end credits, please enjoy these goodies)
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!
Take a drawing class with Kendra at the 92Y
Order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams, out now!
Order Hilary Campbell’s Murder Book, out now! And check out her substack! Diary comics, silly things and more.
Pre-order Sofia Warren’s book, Radical!
Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon!
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 would love it if ya: