The Rejection Collection Vol. 2

Book excerpt: Each week The New Yorker receives more than five hundred submissions from its regular cartoonists, who are all vying for one of the twenty 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.