A second opinion needed on copied cartoon?

A second opinion?: (Left) Paul Noth's cartoon appearing in this week's New Yorker. (Right) Jeff Darcy's editorial cartoon from two years ago.A cartoon that appears in the current issue of the New Yorker looks very similar to one done more than two years ago by Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial cartoonist Jeff Darcy.

The cartoon in question shows a doctor treating a patient while wearing a coat covered with NASCAR-like advertisements like Merck and Amgen.

Jeff Darcy's original editorial cartoon published more than two years ago (click to enlarge).

The similarities were a bit too much for Darcy. "While it’s not uncommon for cartoonists to come up with similar ideas, this example is getting a little too close for comfort."

Paul Noth, the artist behind the New Yorker cartoon, said he hadn't seen Darcy's cartoon before it was emailed to him by David Armstrong at the Wall Street Journal. He went on to say that he wouldn't have gone through with his if he had seen Darcy's cartoon first.

“On two occasions in the past I’ve killed cartoons the New Yorker had accepted because in the months (and sometimes years) that can intervene between the acceptance of a cartoon and its appearance in the magazine I discovered that someone else had a similar joke,” he said.

“I’m also aware that the New Yorker’s fact checking department goes through a lot of trouble to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

This comes on the heels of an earlier accusation of New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss lifting the work of famous comic book artist Jack Kirby in a caption contest cartoon published in the May 12 edition of the magazine.

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