A cartoon from Portlander Tom Toro's new collection, "And to Think We Started as a Book Club..."
Courtesy Tom Toro
Portland cartoonist Tom Toro has just published his first collection, “And to Think We Started as a Book Club.”
The cartoons are a selection from the last 15 years, most of which were published in The New Yorker, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
The book is organized into sections, from “Life,” “Love and Family” to “Work,” “Tech” and “Weird.”
Courtesy Tom Toro
He told OPB’s “Think Out Loud” the cartoons aren’t necessarily meant to make you guffaw. As he writes at the end of the book, he’s most often going for a soft chuckle.
“There’s the classic knock against New Yorker cartoons that like they’re quote, quote ‘not funny,’ right?” Toro said.
“I think that some people like to say that because they’re a little bit erudite. They’re a little bit clever. So they’re not the sort of overacting Sunday morning comics style of cartooning.
“They’re a different genre, and I sort of joke that they’re calibrated so that the business people reading The New Yorker on the subway ride to work in the morning won’t embarrass themselves by laughing out loud.”
Courtesy Tom Toro
Some of his works comment on modern life wordlessly, like a teenager in the rain holding a mini umbrella over his phone while he texts.
Most combine graphics with commentary, like one featuring a man around a campfire reminiscing to children about the end of the world that is a favorite of environmentalists. It has been shared so widely, Toro says, that he feels in some ways it doesn’t even belong to him anymore.
This cartoon of Toro's, first published in 2012, has been shared widely and is a favorite of environmentalists and climate activists.
Courtesy Tom Toro
Toro is a children’s book author, illustrator and screenwriter. His cartoons run not only in The New Yorker, but in a variety of other magazines as well.
He says most of his cartoons — the ones published in The New Yorker anyway — are meant to be palette cleansers amid the in-depth articles about news of the week, analysis and cultural commentary.
“You want to have that little soft chuckle,” Toro said. “My cartoons are created in intimacy with my own thoughts and my own craft. And then they’re sort of enjoyed by people who are maybe laying in bed at night, reading The New Yorker, before they fall asleep.
“So it’s kind of like an intimate moment of communication in a way.”
Toro says he gets inspiration from own life and wider cultural observation, but his cartoons usually come to him in words or dialogue.
“I love wordplay, and also I’m a dad. I have a 10-year-old, so dad jokes, pun-based dad jokes are often close to my heart. You have to elevate them a little bit to get them into The New Yorker, but the writing of it will often come first.”
Courtesy Tom Toro
Tom Toro spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation:
