Better Cartoons, Worse Questionnaire Than Vol. 1

books:


	• The Rejection Collection Vol. 2: The Cream of the Crap Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Off-the-Wall Delight

I have to admit at the outset that I don't laugh as easily as others I know. Too much so called humor seems predictable or formulaic these days. Not so, The Rejection Collection volumes. This book and its predecessor had me giggling, chuckling, laughing and occasionally guffawing from cover to cover. The cartoons are great. Many are twisted, a little sick, or iconoclastic, which tickles me no end. The questionnaires are a fun and valuable insight into the creative minds and personalities of the contributing cartoonists.

Don't miss Bob Mankoff's replies to their questions (found in the questionairre), also in the appendix! He easily holds his own in terms of wit.

Laughter is a great gift. The Rejection Collections I and II are the perfect choice for someone you care about, who has a slightly twisted sense of humor. I hope there will be many more volumes to come. I'll buy them all!

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What fun

I heard the author on Fresh Air and decided to get the book. It is obvious why some of these cartoons didn't make it into the Mag. Less obvious with others. But almost all fun. The cartoonist 'autobiographies' are also great fun.

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A disappointing sequel

I love the original Rejection Collection. That collection contains many of my favorite cartoons of all time, and it still makes me laugh on my 15th, 16th ... etc. reading. Sadly, this second collection is just not as good. Despite the presence of a few real gems, as a whole this sequel is *not* the cream of the crap, but is instead the next layer down. Worth reading, but not worth owning.

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Better Cartoons, Worse Questionnaire Than Vol. 1

If you've gotten to this page, there's a good chance you've either seen or bought the first volume, The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw, and Never Will See, in The New Yorker.

I thought the cartoonists' responses to the questionnaires in the first collection provided a fascinating look into the creative mind. In this volume, the questions seemed more convoluted and the answers more conventional.

The cartoons, however, struck me as being funnier in this volume. Two of my favorite cartoonists (Sam Gross and Gahan Wilson) are featured in both volumes.

If I could only buy one, I would buy the first volume, but both collections are enjoyable.

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On my gift list this year

The other day I happened to hear the author interviewed on a local PBS radio airing of Fresh Air. The new collection was discussed and when the author described some of the examples in the book, I laughed so hard I almost choked. The people driving next to me must have wondered what on earth I was laughing about. The verbal descriptions of some of the cartoons created such visualizations I almost shudder to think what will happen when I view the entire content. For example, a description of Titantic action figures struck me so funny that, now as I type this review, I'm laughing again. That is effective cartooning - and I haven't seen the visual yet. Yup, still laughing ...sounds like the perfect gift for those pals who have everything else and could use a good laugh.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Each week The New Yorker receives more than 500 submissions from its regular cartoonists, who are all vying for one of the 20 coveted spots in the magazine. So what happens to the 75 percent of cartoons that don't make the cut? Some go back in a drawer, others go up on the refrigerator or into the filing cabinet ... but the very best of all the rejects can be found right here in these pages.

The Rejection Collection Vol. 2: The Cream of the Crap is the ultimate scrap heap of creative misfires--from the lowbrow and the dirty to the politically incorrect and the weird, these rejects represent the best of the worst ... in the best possible sense of the word. Handpicked by editor Matthew Diffee, these hilarious cartoons are accompanied by handwritten questionnaires and photographed self-portraits, providing a rare glimpse into the minds of the artists behind the rejection.

With appendices that explore the top ten reasons why cartoons are rejected and examine the solitary nature of the job of cartooning--plus a special bonus section of questions asked of and answered by cartoon editor Robert Mankoff--this sequel to The Rejection Collection offers even deeper insight into the exercise in frustration, patience, and amusement that is being a New Yorker cartoonist.

Warped, wicked, and wildly funny, The Rejection Collection Vol. 2 will appeal to every New Yorker fan--and everyone with a taste for the absurd.

Amazon Exclusive

A Cartoon from Matthew Diffee
Here's a cartoon that's very different from the rest of mine. This one, unlike the others, has never been rejected by The New Yorker magazine. I did it especially for Amazon. Would it have been rejected if I had submitted it? I think I can safely say yes. That's not to say it isn't any good. It's just the mathematics involved. Like all the regular cartoonists in The New Yorker, 90 percent of my work gets rejected. Yep, it's sad, isn't it? We all do ten or more cartoons a week, pitch them to the magazine, and on a good week they'll take one of them. The rest disappear forever--at least they used to. Now we save our rejects up and put the best of them in The Rejection Collection. This is volume two, and just like the first one, it's full of cartoons that make the cartoonists laugh and the editors cringe.

That's because, in most cases, these are wildly inappropriate for the pages of a sophisticated literary magazine. I think you'll see what I mean when you take a look. And if you ask me, just knowing that these gags were ever submitted to The New Yorker at all makes them a little bit funnier--maybe 6 percent.

--Matthew Diffee

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