2025 Has Been a Banner Year for Molly's Grandpappy, Rea Irvin !

Rea Irvin had a long and prestigious career working on a handful of newspapers around the country, eventually making his way to New York and becoming a sought-after cartoonist-illustrator for Life, Judge, Harper's, Green Book, Hampton’s Magazine, Red Book and numerous other publications before becoming the aesthetic-overlord of the New Yorker magazine. He drew the first iconic cover and generally gave the magazine its look—designing the logo, typeface, column headings as well as serving as cartoon editor.

Most of these significant accomplishments managed to fly under the cultural radar for decades.

But 2025 has been Rea Irvin’s big year.

In July of this year, Rea was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame presented at the Comic Con International in San Diego.

Molly accepting the Eisner Hall of Fame award for grandpa Rea

And as of this December, his very first collected works was published by New York Review Books.

The Smythes was edited by artists R. Kikuo Johnson and Dash Shaw, with an afterword by Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Curator, Caitlin McGurk.

All of this in one year !  

Just a mere 53 years after his death.

A brief 100 years after his iconic New Yorker cover.

And only 126 years after his first published cartoons.

But recognition at last.