Bob Mankoff
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Robert Mankoff (born May 1, 1944Wilson, Craig. "Top drawer at 'The New Yorker' Mankoff makes his imprint as cartoon editor," ''USA Today'' (2 October 1997): D, 1:2.) is an American cartoonist, editor, and
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
. He was the cartoon editor for ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' for nearly twenty years. Before he succeeded
Lee Lorenz Lee Sharp Lorenz (October 17, 1932 – December 8, 2022) was an American cartoonist most notable for his work in ''The New Yorker''. Early life and education Lorenz was born on October 17, 1932 in Hackensack, New Jersey. After studying at Nor ...
as cartoon editor at ''The New Yorker'', Mankoff was a ''New Yorker'' cartoonist for twenty years.


Early life

Mankoff grew up in
Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, and attended
Music and Art High School The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the Hi ...
Mankoff, Robert
"Comics: Meet the Artist," (transcript)
''Washington Post'' (November 5, 2004).
(graduating in 1962) and Syracuse University (graduating in 1966).Mankoff bio
''New Yorker'' website. Accessed April 5, 2013.


Career

Mankoff is the founder and President of Cartoon Collections, a cartoon licensing database, which also owns CartoonStock.com based in the UK. Mankoff submitted more than 500 cartoons to ''The New Yorker'' for over two years before he had his first one published in 1977. One of his cartoons (captioned "No, Thursday's out. How about never—is never good for you?") is one of ''The New Yorkers most widely reprinted cartoons. In 1992, Mankoff founded the online Cartoon Bank,Fleishman, Glenn

''New York Times'' (October 29, 1998).
a licensing platform for ''New Yorker'' cartoons and art, with more than 85,000 cartoons available for sale. Mankoff was hired as ''New Yorker'' cartoon editor in 1997; he credits his administration of the Cartoon Bank as being an important reason for why he was chosen to replace Lee Lorenz, (who himself had been at the magazine for 20+ years).
Tina Brown Christina Hambley Brown, Lady Evans (born 21 November 1953), is an English journalist, magazine editor, columnist, talk-show host, and author of ''The Diana Chronicles'' (2007) a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, '' The Vanity Fair Diarie ...
, ''The New Yorkers editor at the time, said of Mankoff, "Bob is not only a brilliant cartoonist himself, he's also an impassioned promoter, defender and curator of the art of cartooning. . . . He's put himself out to nurture cartoonists." Mankoff once stated that his all-time favorite ''New Yorker'' cartoonist was
Jack Ziegler Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
. He has also cited
Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before ...
as an artist he would have liked as a contributing cartoonist. Under Mankoff, the magazine brought in a new generation of cartoonists (including a number of female contributors); notable names include
Pat Byrnes Pat Byrnes is an American cartoonist best known for his work for ''The New Yorker''. He created the comic strip '' Monkeyhouse'', which ran for three years. He received the National Cartoonists Society Advertising and Illustration Award for 2001 ...
,
J. C. Duffy J.C. Duffy is an American cartoonist. He currently creates "The Fusco Brothers" which has been syndicated since 1989. He created the comics "Go Figure", "Go Fish" (2002 to 2007) and "Lug Nuts". He also writes and draws cartoons that appear in ''The ...
,
P. C. Vey Peter C. Vey is an American cartoonist. Vey's cartoons have appeared in many publications such as ''The New Yorker'', '' National Lampoon'' and ''MAD Magazine'', his two major contributions to Mad include ''Duke Bissell's Tales of Undisputed Int ...
, Farley Katz,
Emily Flake Emily Suzanne Flake (born June 16, 1977) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. Her work has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', ''The New York Times'', ''Time'' and many other publications. Her weekly comic strip '' Lulu Eightball'' has appeared i ...
, and
Julia Suits Julia Suits is a contributing cartoonist for ''The New Yorker'' and other publications. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Suits received a BFA in painting from Beloit College and an MFA from Ohio State University. Her editorial portraits, syndicated ...
. Mankoff usually contributed a short article to each issue of ''The New Yorker'', describing some aspect of the cartooning process or the methods used to select cartoons for the magazine. Under Mankoff's stewardship, in April 2005 the magazine began using the last page of each issue for the subsequently very popular "The New Yorker Cartoon
Caption Contest A caption contest or caption competition is a competition between multiple participants, who are required to give the best description for a certain image offered by the contest organizer. Rules and information about the competition process are also ...
" (prior that date, the Caption Contest had appeared as a back-page feature in the magazine's annual "Cartoon Issue"). Mankoff himself contributes cartoons to '' Moment'' magazine's own monthly cartoon caption contest. In 2016, Mankoff co-founded Botnik Studios with Jamie Brew, a former
Clickhole ClickHole is a satirical website (formerly owned by ''The Onion'') that parodies clickbait websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy. It was launched on June 12, 2014, in conjunction with ''The Onion''s decision to stop its print edition and shif ...
and
The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satire, satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on ...
writer. On April 29, 2017, he left ''The New Yorker'', and was named Humor and Cartoon Editor at '' Esquire'' magazine on May 1, 2017. Mankoff resigned from his position at ''Esquire'' in June 2019. Mankoff was named cartoon editor of
Graydon Carter Edward Graydon Carter, CM (born July 14, 1949) is a Canadian journalist who served as the editor of '' Vanity Fair'' from 1992 until 2017. He also co-founded, with Kurt Andersen and Tom Phillips, the satirical monthly magazine '' Spy'' in 1986 ...
and
Alessandra Stanley Alessandra Stanley (born October 3, 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American journalist. As of 2019, she is the co-founder of a weekly newsletter "for worldly cosmopolitans" called ''Air Mail'', alongside former ''Vanity Fair'' editor-in-ch ...
's digital newsletter, ''Air Mail'', in July 2019.


Personal life

Mankoff and his wife Cory live in
Briarcliff Manor, New York Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor in ...
; they have one daughter together, Sarah. Cory also had a son who died in 2012.


Film

The 2015 documentary, ''Very Semi-Serious'', presents a behind-the-scenes look at the cartoons of ''The New Yorker'', and features glimpses into Mankoff's career, his role at ''The New Yorker'', and his personal life. The film was produced by Redora Films.


Bibliography

* ''Urban Bumpkins'' (St. Martin's/Marek, 1985) * ''Call Your Office'' (Topper Books, 1986) * ''It's Lonely at the Top'' (Ballantine Books, 1987) * ''The Naked Cartoonist: A Way to Enhance Your Creativity'' (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2002) * ''How About Never — Is Never Good for You?: A Life in Cartoons'' (Henry Holt, 2014) — published to positive reviews in ''The New York Times'' and the ''Wall Street Journal''Kosner, Edward
"Book Review: 'How About Never—Is Never Good for You?' by Bob Mankoff: The cartoon editor of the New Yorker began as a psychology graduate student but quit when his lab animal died,"
''Wall Street Journal'' (March 21, 2014).
Mankoff edited at least 14 collections of ''New Yorker'' cartoons, including ''
The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2004), a compilation of every cartoon published since the magazine was founded; the hardcover book is a 656-page collection of the magazine's best cartoons published during 80 years, plus a double CD set with all 68,647 cartoons published to that point.


References


External links

*
Cartoon Collections

''New Yorker'' blog "The Cartoon Bureau"

''Fresh Air'' interview
(November 27, 2002)

''Washington Post'' (October 23, 2004).
"A Life in Pictures : Bob Mankoff,"
''
Moment Magazine ''Moment'' is an independent magazine which focuses on the life of the American Jewish community. It is not tied to any particular Jewish movement or ideology. The publication features investigative stories and cultural criticism, highlighting th ...
'' (January/February 2014). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mankoff, Bob American cartoonists American editors The New Yorker cartoonists The High School of Music & Art alumni Syracuse University alumni 1944 births Living people