Two cartoons from the latest (July 11/18) New Yorker, by veteran artist Danny Shanahan (in the magazine since 1988) and newcomer Edward Steed (first appeared there in 2013):
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The Shanahan (which is, in a sense, “about” animal communication) exemplifies the cartoon meme of the animal in a bar (most often a dog, but many other animals have engaged in bar conversations); in this case, the animal in a bar is combined with a comic trope in which a bartender covers for a patron by telling a caller to the bar (clasically, the patron’s wife) that the patron isn’t there. The Steed is a bizarre bulletin in the news for penises.
For the Shanahan, you need to know that whales emit two kinds of signals (often very loud), called whistles and clicks; the clicks are used as a kind of sonar, for echolocation, but both kinds of signals are used, in patterns (by some species), for communication.
On Steed, in a 3/4/14 Michael Maslin interview of three newest New Yorker cartoonists (Liana Finck, Edward Steed, Charlie Hankin; Finck and Hankin have appeared on this blog before):
Today we hear from Edward Steed, who hails from England (joining a stellar cast of our colleagues from across the Atlantic, including Alfred Leete, who was in the very first issue of The New Yorker).
Mr. Steed’s first New Yorker appearance was in … 2013. [He] has graciously provided Ink Spill with a self portrait.
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