I Got a Present

In a recent communication with Andrew McLuhan, the grandson of Marshall McLuhan and the director of The McLuhan Institute, he told me about a Milton Glaser poster that was totally unknown to me. Milton created the poster for Tom Wolfe's documentary Marshall McLuhan: The Man and His Message (1984). Amazingly, he even had the mechanics of that poster, and he sent me photos of it. 

 

Unfortunately, he didn't have any printed copies of the poster. But he had two copies of a smaller flyer with part of the original poster design. He was very kind and sent me one of them as a present. Here are the photos of the front and back of it.

 

 

Comic "The Medium is the Massage"

My new comic for the A.C.2020. (After Covid) series. This one is a visual pun on the title of the most famous Marshall McLuhan's book The Medium Is the Massage. 

Why is the book title “The Medium Is the Massage” but not “The Medium Is the Message”? Actually, the title was a mistake. When the book came back from the typesetter, it had “Massage” on the cover as it still does. The title was supposed to be “The Medium Is the Message” but the typesetter had made an error. When Marshall saw the typo he exclaimed, “Leave it alone! It’s great, and right on target!"

Another interesting piece of information about this book is that Quentin Fiore, the designer of the book shared the cover billing with Marshall McLuhan. 

 

Here is the link to a witty post about this comic by Steve Heller in The Daily Heller. 

You can see more of my A.C.2020. comics here.

 

Cover of the first edition of "The Medium Is the Massage".

 

 

"Distant Early Warning" by Marshall McLuhan

Last week I got this beautiful present, an unpacked deck of cards Distant Early Warning. They were created by Marshall McLuhan in 1969.

A deck of playing cards designed to be used as a problem-solving device. First edition. (It was originally given to subscribers to the “DEW-Line Newsletter.”) In slipcase: choice of colors green, red, black, blue, or brown. Cards cellophane-wrapped. Includes inserted instruction sheet.

"The cards are fantastic and are real playing cards rather than simply prompt cards. I think this might be one of the first examples of playing cards as a non military political/social tool. Military propaganda units have used playing cards since before WWII as a means to both identify and lampoon their enemies. Considering the publishing date of 1969, (when anti Vietnam War sentiment was high). Although there's no overtly antiwar messaging in McLuhan's deck.

There are some wonderful statements in the deck. It's full of the humour, sharpness and provocativeness that you can't help but associate with McLuhan. A fabulous object with several pithy statements that seem as apt today as ever." – Murray Grigo-McMahon