New Yorker cover artist says resemblance to August cartoon is unintentional

The New Yorker’s new cover is a beautiful, understated take on the unrest in Ferguson this past week.

It also bears a strong resemblance to an Aug. 21 editorial cartoon by R.J. Matson. (courtesy Cagle)

Bob Staake, who illustrated the New Yorker cover, writes on Facebook that he hadn’t before seen Matson’s cartoon.

Daryl Cagle, who publishes the Cagle cartoons syndicate, told Poynter in an email that many New Yorker political covers follow in the footsteps of editorial cartoonists: “It would be more unusual if a New Yorker cover hadn’t been drawn by a political cartoonist first,” he wrote.

Staake also told The New Yorker’s Mina Kaneko and Francoise Mouly he used to live in St. Louis and “At first glance, one might see a representation of the Gateway Arch as split and divided, but my hope is that the events in Ferguson will provide a bridge and an opportunity for the city, and also for the country, to learn and come together.”