$49.99 (Different in Canada)
A BIG BOOK FOR A LITTLE KING! This compendium includes more than 400 cartoons—THE LITTLE KING from each of its five decades, plus the complete run of THE AMBASSADOR and a wide array of book illustrations, advertisements, and early works. Plus, Soglow’s life and career is examined in a thoroughly original and enlightening introduction by Jared Gardner.
Otto Soglow began his career as a radical artist publishing in The New Masses and The Liberator; a decade later he was working for William Randolph Hearst and creating advertisements for Pepsi-Cola and Standard Oil. The Little King, Soglow's most famous creation, was born out of the tension between his political idealism and his professional ambitions. CARTOON MONARCH: OTTO SOGLOW AND THE LITTLE KING is a long-overdue examination of the unique pantomime cartoons of Otto Soglow, who entertained millions for more than fifty years and whose influence remains current in the works of Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Ivan Brunetti, and others.
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otto soglow &
Much of the humor in The Little King is aimed at puncturing pomposity and, as Ivan Brunetti points out in his Foreword, Otto Soglow accomplishes it with drawings that are tightly composed, exquisitely timed, carefully structured pieces of machinery. Soglow's process of streamlining is at the root of why his drawings have a timeless sophistication and elegance, and continue to entice new readers and cartoonists, and helps explain why his work is still published every week, more than three decades after his death. It's high time for a fitting tribute to this cartoon monarch.
the little king edited by
Dean Mullaney
cartoon monarch otto soglow &
the little king edited by Dean Mullaney Jared Gardner foreword by Ivan Brunetti
Introduction by
LibraryofAmericanComics.com • idwpublishing.com
Otto Soglow didn't invent the pantomime comic strip, but he certainly became its most famous and honored proponent. It didn't matter what language you spoke or in what country you read his cartoons—the humor and deceptively simple artwork were universal. Soglow was born in the Yorkville section of New York City in 1900, studied with John Sloane at the Art Student's League, and by the late 1920s, his social-realist drawings were appearing in such radical publications as The New Masses and The Liberator, as well as the mainstream Life and Collier's. Soglow began experimenting with eliminating unnecessary lines while at The New Yorker, where he created the Little King in 1931. He helped define the magazine’s modern, streamlined style of cartooning, and in the 21st Century, his work is still used in the magazine’s headers. Lured by Hearst’s King Features Syndicate, Soglow moved to the Sunday comics section by creating The Ambassador until his contract with The New Yorker for the rotund monarch ended in 1934. The Little King then recalled his ambassador and launched his more than forty-year career as a Sunday funnies mainstay. continued on back flap
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THE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS libraryofamericancomics.com
EDITOR AND DESIGNER
SOURCES: Page 1: Tabletop drawing for Fred Waring. The famous bandleader was a noted comics fan—starting in 1948 and for the next twenty-five years he hosted members of the National Cartoonists Society at his Pennsylvania golf resort, Shawnee Inn & Country Club. His extensive collection of cartoonist specialty drawings are held at Penn State. Page 2: Promotional photograph of Otto Soglow drawing The Ambassador, 1933. Title page: Decoration for the dustjacket of the 1933 Little King collection. Page 432: Drawing for Fred Waring, early 1950s. Front endpaper: Modified panel from the March 16, 1941 Sunday. Back endpaper: An early 1930s New Yorker cartoon which Soglow re-used as the basis for the May 20, 1951 Sunday (see page 281). Front dustjacket image: Promotional drawing for the Famous Artists School. Back dustjacket image: Detail from the June 27, 1948 Sunday, which in turn was recycled from a New Yorker cartoon. Back dustjacket flap: Self-caricature from the catalogue for “Meet the Artist,” an exhibit of self portraits by American artists held at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, 1943.
Dean Mullaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Bruce Canwell ART DIRECTOR
Lorraine Turner CONTRIBUTING EDITOR & INTRODUCTION
Jared Gardner FOREWORD
Ivan Brunetti
Published by IDW Publishing a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC 5080 Santa Fe Street • San Diego, CA 92109 www.idwpublishing.com
ISBN: 978-1-61377-148-8 First Printing, March 2012
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Beau Smith Special thanks to Randy Scott and the Comic Art Collection at Michigan State University for providing most of the artwork in the volume. Thanks also to The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum’s Milton Caniff Collection, San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, and the Toni Mendez Collection for additional artwork and photographs; and to Timothy Babcock, Coördinator of Fred Waring’s America, at Penn State University. Additional thanks to Jackson Glassey for scanning assistance and to Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon for proofreading and coordination. For providing material and advice, our appreciation to Steve Stanchfield, Chris Buchman, Rex Schneider, and Thunderbean Animation; Jeet Heer; Heather Winter of Hake’s Americana and Collectibles; Jeff Vaughn; and Rob Stolzer.
Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors 1-410-560-7100
IDW Publishing Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Alan Payne, VP of Sales
Copyright © 2012 King Features Syndicate. ™ Hearst Holdings, Inc. The IDW logo is a registered trademark of Idea and Design Works, LLC. The Library of American Comics is a trademark of The Library of American Comics, LLC. All rights reserved. Foreword © 2012 Ivan Brunetti. Introduction © 2012 Jared Gardner. Cartoons on pages 16-18 © 2012 Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Korea.
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THIS PAGE: Two early Little King cartoons originally in The New Yorker and gathered by Soglow in a 1933 collection. OPPOSITE: Two more entries in the Manhole Series. Left to right: February 2, 1929 and August 3, 1929, and three examples of Soglow’s headers for “The Talk of the Town.”
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BOTH PAGES: These Little King cartoons Soglow published in The New Yorker introduce several gags he would return to time and again in the syndicated newspaper strip—such as the soap box orator (always presenting a sympathetic take on protesters) and wind-blown hats.
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THIS PAGE: The tattoo gag on the top right, published in Judge, January 1930, is an early example of one of Soglow’s recurring themes in The Little King. The other cartoons were published in Collier’s. 22
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ABOVE: Covers to Soglow’s solo books, Pretty Pictures (1930) and Wasn’t the Depression Terrible (1930), plus his cover for Ogden Nash’s Happy Days (1930). LEFT: Two illustrations for Nash’s Four Prominent So-and-So’s (1934).
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OPPOSITE LEFT: Cover to Dumb-Belles Lettres (1933), a collection of a newspaper feature of the same name published in The Daily Mail. OPPOSITE RIGHT: Two cartoons from Soglow’s ‘Confidential’ History of Modern England (1939). OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Illustrations from Recipes and Menus for Allergics (1939). THIS PAGE (Clockwise from top left): Illustration from L'Affaire Jones, a novel by Hillel Bernstein (1933); It’s the Law (1933), a collection of a monthly feature in American Magazine; an illustration from Fields for President (1940), a humorous “campaign” book by noted film comedian W. C. Fields; the dustjacket for Liberated Latin (1951).
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