By Richard S. West

The Comic Monthly, a six cent, 16-page well-illustrated folio, in the style of Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun, was founded in March 1859 by a minor New York printer and publisher, Jesse Haney. Cartoonist Frank Bellew (who also contributed to Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun among others) was a major contributor, as was J. H. Howard and the 19-year-old Thomas Nast. *

During the first two years of the Comic Monthly's existence, it emphasized the world of theater in its cartoons, devoting nearly every front and back cover up to the advent of the Civil War to caricatures of prominent New York players. Inevitably, however, the extraordinary political events of 1860 and thereafter occupied more and more of the Comic Monthly's attention. Not surprisingly, given its initial indifference to politics, the Comic Monthly exhibited no preference in the 1860 campaign, choosing instead to gently satirize all of the candidates, with an emphasis on their personalities not their politics. Lincoln received the most attention, largely due to the exotic aspects of his character and life story.

Throughout the war, the Comic Monthly played the part of the patriot and lent largely uncritical support to the war effort. But it cared nothing for abolitionists, suggesting on several occasions that they were the ones responsible for the conflict, and displayed what amounted to disinterest in the outcome of the 1864 campaign. Like several of its satirical contemporaries, it never recognized Lincoln's assassination. This, however, should not be interpreted as a lack of grief; it was probably due to the mundane restrictions of printing deadlines.

* Note:  Nast surely welcomed the work, but he was far more indebted to Haney in matters of the heart. Haney introduced him to his future wife, Sarah, and the two men eventually became brothers-in-law.