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Marginals or Interstitials

Many issues of The New Yorker have ongoing cartoons that occupy small spaces between the columns in a series of pages -- each wordless panel is several pages on from the last. Some of them have recognizable storylines while others are just doodles on a common theme. They sort of remind me of Sergio Aragones's "Mad Marginals" in the margins of Mad Magazine, which I used to page through whenever I got a copy looking specifically for them when I was a kid. They felt like a secret comic that a casual reader might not even notice, which is probably stupid. I do the same thing with The New Yorker now, which is probably even stupider.

They also kind of remind me of the secondary "underneath" comic in Maakies (which is often funnier than the main comic above it).

Does this sort of thing have a name? The New Yorker thing, I mean, one comic appearing over maybe a dozen pages of other matter? I call 'em "interstitials" because I'm an dickhead who likes to impress people with how brilliant I am.

Fnarf asked in Comics! about 1 year ago | Report
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  • King_small
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    Those are called marginals or Interstitials. I guess...

    Tony Millionaire answered in Comics! about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Images_small
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    I would say "spot illustrations" but I can't say it's a perfect use of the term... The Believer utilizes these, too...

    Eric Reynolds answered in Comics! about 1 year ago | Report
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  • C5d579be15d0cabd9fcdff538f017ca1_reasonably_small_small
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    Spy magazine, the cultural satiric from the late 80s, also used those extensively...in fact, they were often funnier than the articles.

    Strangely, a soft-skin magazine called "Stuff" from the 00s (now defunct, sadly) also had that same style of humor and I wonder if the authors/editors were the same/related.

    Spy Magazine can now be found online in Google Books and I recommend it to anyone.

    Stuff Magazine had better girlie pictures than Maxim. The best ever in fact...

    John Bailo answered in Comics! about 1 year ago | Report
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  • 41412_559923792_7987_n_small
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    I don't know what they're called, but I love them too.

    Matthew Southworth answered in Comics! about 1 year ago | Report
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