The New Playboy Magazine: No Nudes, No Cartoons

Above: some of the cartoonists received a letter from the Associate Cartoon Editor announcing that the magazine is "presently not accepting new cartoon submissions." My thanks to cartoonist Gary McCoy for this.

In the magazine gag cartooning world there are some A-list clients, and, until now, Playboy was on that list. Founded by amateur cartoonist Hugh Hefner, Playboy loved cartoons and paid well. It was a prestige market.

With no announcement or ceremony by CEO Scott Flanders, all the gag cartoons in the new, revamped "no more nudes" redesigned version Playboy are now gone.

So, this is what you get: a cartoonist (me) posting on social medial telling only those few thousand that the magazine that gave us Dedini, Cole, Interlandi, Silverstein, Kliban -- and my friends V Gene Myers, Don Orehek, Gahan Wilson, Mort Gerberg, Bobby London, and many more -- has gone out of the gag cartoon business. I'm very sad about this. It's a sudden nail in the coffin.