GMercyU Professor Publishes Cartoon Book

Take a look around Gwynedd Mercy University's Keiss Library and Learning Commons and you'll find reads ranging across all genres and disciplines, from New York Times best sellers to medical journals. New to the shelves is No Love for the Penguin: Cartoons Rejected by The New Yorker, a cartoon book published by GMercyU Communication Assistant Professor Janis Chakars, PhD and illustrator Derek Stukuls.

The book is exactly what the title promises, a book of 94 penguin cartoons that were rejected by The New Yorker. Stukuls began illustrating the penguin character in 2012 and would often lean on Professor Chakars to write clever captions. Soon, the team began churning out penguin cartoons on the regular, with Professor Chakars first supplying the caption and Stukuls following up with an accompanying cartoon.

Despite many efforts, every cartoon submitted to The New Yorker was rejected. Undeterred, the two former punk rockers decided to return to their roots and simply do it themselves and, as Professor Chakars tells NewsWorks Tonight, the book, now in its second printing, has found love in Philadelphia. You can now find the book at a variety of independent bookstores in the city, and true to the DIY spirit of the project, on Etsy.com as well as in GMercyU's Keiss Library and Learning Commons.

The duo have also launched a series of penguin parties, where they not only sign books, but offer penguin-themed stand up comedy, caption contests, and more. You can join them next at JD's Hero Complex, a comic book store in Manayunk, on October 7.