Susan Keyloun Victoria Roberts at Strand Books“Have you ever dreamed of owning a unique, hand-drawn picture by a New Yorker cartoonist?” read the invite to the special event held last night at Strand Bookstore. The answer was yes, as swarms of fans lined up to watch Victoria Roberts, a popular cartoonist for The New Yorker since 1988, draw personalized cartoons just for them. At one point, people had to be turned away as the line snaked around the perimeter of Strand’s legendary Rare Book Room.
Susan Keyloun Drawn for the author by Victoria Roberts. Ms. Roberts, who was born in New York and grew up in Mexico and Australia, effortlessly engaged each fan in conversation while she drew, gleaning tidbits about their lives to incorporate into each cartoon. She also signed copies of her illustrated novel, “After the Fall”.
“The Strand has been a fixture in New York for over 80 years and we hope to expand to do more events like this one,” said Lizzy Selzer who coordinated this event and helps maintain Strand’s calendar. “We’re thrilled that it was a huge success and we will be hosting more like it.” For a complete list, check out Strand’s Facebook event calendar.
The Local East Village continues its celebration of the pioneering alternative newspaper of the late 1960s and early 70s, The East Village Other. This weekend, further to last week’s piece by artist Trina Robbins, we’re keeping our attention on the paper’s trailblazing illustrations, starting with an essay from Patrick Rosenkranz, the author of “Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975.”
Cover of the first Gothic Blimp Works issue, by Robert CrumbI never worked for The East Village Other but I was a captivated reader from the first time I picked up an issue in 1966. As an 18-year-old naïve Catholic scholarship student at Columbia University, I was ripe for the revolution. My roommate introduced me to smoking dope that winter and my enhanced appetite often drew me to the student cafeteria, where I couldn’t help but be attracted to the radical contingent from Students for a Democratic Society sitting around their regular table. They looked to my eyes like bomb-throwing anarchists who were having wild sex every night. They often left behind copies of The East Village Other, which I picked up. It was love at first sight.
I’d never seen a publication like this before. It was full of wild accusations and bawdy language and doctored photographs. It had President Johnson’s head in a toilet bowl. It had naked Slum Goddesses, truly bizarre personal ads, and a whole different slant on the anti-war movement than my hometown paper upstate. But best of all, it had the most outrageous comic strips. The continuing saga of Captain High; the psychedelic adventures of Sunshine Girl and Zoroaster the Mad Mouse; Trashman offing the pigs and scoring babes left and right. While I enjoyed many aspects of EVO, I liked the comics the most. Read more…
