The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw, and Never Will See, in The New Yorker, edited by Matthew Diffee

A few months ago I read a book about rejected cartoons that was a bit disappointing. A friend then let me borrow this one, promising it was much better. He was right! Many of the cartoons made me laugh out loud and were funnier than others I’ve seen in the New Yorker. What this collection was missing was a description of why these in particular were rejected, although the implication is that they were too risqué or wierd for the magazine. There was a brief introduction to each artist that more than made up for this failing, though. Each artist filled out a two page questionnaire, which was filled to bursting with humor. Some doodled over the whole thing, others answered the questions with tongue firmly placed in cheek (“What’s the hardest part of cartooning?” “Groupies.”), but my favorites were where the cartoonist was asked to draw something about his childhood. Amusingly, an amazing number of them dealt with nuns and priests. This book is well worth your time!

First Sentence (from the introduction):

Let me tell you how lucky I am.