The other Barry Blitt New Yorker covers
In all the news coverage over the controversial New Yorker cover depicting the Obamas as terrorist extremists, I haven’t seen many mentions of other works by Barry Blitt, the artist of that cover. Two of his covers last year — which I’m posting below — were among the best the magazine has featured in years.
This first one had every political cartoonist in America smacking his head, saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?” I’m not even a political cartoonist and that’s what went through my head. It’s easy to guess from seeing it what the two major news stories it’s referencing were:
And here’s another one that really blew me away:
It’s funny, but since I subscribe to the New Yorker, I remember both those covers and my first impulse when I started reading all about the latest one was to root through the old piles looking for these two.
Still – I feel like some of the issues raised, namely about how even typically closed-audience magazines like the New Yorker have to consider the ramifications of their work online, are worth talking about.