The monster at the start of this Humpday is Ulysses, and Ruben Bolling provides a chance for me to link to my classic examination of books everybody references and nobody has read. Twain wrote that a classic is “something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read,” which I would modify to […]

Having deleted several cartoons, both strips and political, that referred to Dear Leader’s now-moribund slush fund, it was a surprise to find a case of coincidental timing that did apply to something in the news. Not that it’s all that encouraging, but these days you have to take whatever you can get. Enough politics: It’s […]

I’ve often observed here that it’s tough to do multi-panel political cartoons because the news rarely cooperates by producing enough examples to fit the format. Granted, Tom Tomorrow generally does better than average at it anyway, but here’s an example of the subject matter cooperating with plenty of material that only needed a clever twist […]

Al Frueh’s Terrif Love Letter

In 1913, long before Al Frueh (pronounced “free”) became a fixture at The New Yorker, he designed the above letter for his wife. Read all about it here.

Mr Frueh was a cover artist, as well as a cartoonist, contributing 201 cartoons during his 34 years at the magazine. Of note: he had the very first cartoon in the very first issue of The New Yorker. His one-and-only New Yorker cover, dated February 28, 1925, was the magazine’s second:

He will most likely be remembered for his theater drawings (accompanying the magazine’s theater reviews):

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Tilley Watch Online, April 20 – 24, 2026

Daily Cartoon: Ben Schwartz, Harriet Burbeck, Kyle Bravo, Felipe Galindo (bonus drawing), Tom Toro, Maggie Larson.

Barry Blitt’s Kvetchbook: “Happy Earth Day (To Those Who Celebrate)”

 

The post Saturday Spill: Al Frueh’s Terrif Love Letter; The Tilley Watch Online, April 20-24, 2026 first appeared on Inkspill.