When I was in high school the cool kids referred to hanging out as a kickback and I was so desperate to be invited to anything that sounded so elite and yet so effortless. Clearly no one at a kickback was worried if their jokes were landing, or if they dressed right, or if they knew how to properly sit on the couch in a way that was both so chill yet preeeeetty fucking sexy. I wanted to be a part of a group so badly in high school I went towards anyone who would have me. Theater kids?? Jocks?? Assholes?? Anyone who will hug me??? When I look back now I think how it must have been like “DO YOU LIKE ME????” was tattooed across my forehead. The sheer desperation to be in a group hang was dripping from my fragile ego and making the floors real wet. If you can tell, high school was hard for me. College was still hard but I’d begun to get that tattoo removed from my head. Though I still feel today that I’ll always want to belong to some kind of group… dare I say… a need for… community? If you’ve read Maria Bamford’s Sure I’ll Join Your Cult you’d understand.
This week I asked the cartoonists how they felt about “the group hang”… and here’s what they had to say.
Getting together in real life with friends in 2025 requires the logistical prowess of a military unit and the patience of a saint. First, there's the group chat that spans three weeks just to pick a date, during which everyone suddenly becomes extremely busy with mysterious "prior commitments", and once you finally align the stars and settle on a place, someone inevitably shows up 40 minutes late because they "couldn't find parking" / were still in their pajamas 15 minutes ago. By the end of the night, you're all planning the next hangout that will definitely happen "soon" and absolutely won't take another three months to coordinate.
Kendra Allenby
Everyone's budget is getting cut these days.
If something starts after 8:00 PM in the evening, I really have to motivate myself to get there! This cartoon is a summation of that. Find more comics from me on substack (newish!).
Yesterday I was selling prints and cartoons at a market and I heard a dad explain this joke (at great length) to his eight year old, until she let out that classic exhalation of air from her nostrils that we New Yorker cartoonists so desire. It tickled me so! What greater tickled heights could I hope for? I can conceive of no height higher.
Yinfan Huang
Yinfan’s brand new memoir Yellow Singing Sail is out now and you can join her at the next book event with New Yorker cartoons editor Emma Allen this Thursday!
But wait, there’s more!
Sign up for Ellis Rosen’s new(ish) newsletter! It has lots of cartoons and discussions about cartoons and the biz (Short for business.)
Amy Kurzweil’s graphic memoir, Artificial: A Love Story, is available now. Amy teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class.
Hilary Campbell releases Cartoons by Hilary every Friday!
Jason Chatfield has A NEW BOOK OUT! Order it today!
Navied Mahdavian is teaching a summer graphic memoir workshop!
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