Martin Schneider writes:

A new issue of The New Yorker comes out today. It is the Cartoon Issue. A preview of its contents, adapted from the magazine's press release:

In this year's Cartoon Issue, "The Funnies" features cartoons by Pat Byrnes, Drew Dernavich, Matthew Diffee, William Haefeli, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Marisa Acocella Marchetto, Victoria Roberts, David Sipress, Mike Twohy, P. C. Vey, Christopher Weyant, and Jack Ziegler.

Chris Ware relates a family drama in a comic strip.

"I Don't Get It" explains some of the more obscure cartoons that have run in our pages.

Roz Chast envisions a social-networking site for the antisocial.

Zachary Kanin reveals the shocking truth about vampires.

Also, we introduce the Cartoon Kit Contest with "Talk Show," featuring drawings by Alex Gregory. Using the backdrop, characters, and props provided, readers are invited to create a cartoon and submit it on newyorker.com.

In "Robots That Care," Jerome Groopman looks at the use of robots to assist in physical and social rehabilitation. Maja Matarić, a professor of computer science, has "begun working with stroke and Alzheimer's patients and autistic children, searching for a way to make machines that can engage directly with them, encouraging both physical and cognitive rehabilitation," Groopman writes.

In "Wild, Wild Wes," Richard Brody explores the career of the filmmaker Wes Anderson, and previews his new movie, the animated feature "Fantastic Mr. Fox," based on the children's book by Roald Dahl.

In Comment, Louis Menand questions whether the White House's war on Fox News is worthwhile.

In The Talk of the Town, Cornel West discusses his thoughts on Barack Obama with David Remnick.

In The Financial Page, James Surowiecki explains how the biggest banks on Wall Street have actually got bigger during the financial crisis.

Barbara Demick relates one survivor's story of the brutal famine in North Korea during the nineteen-nineties.

In Shouts & Murmurs, Ian Frazier tells the story of Fanshawe, a New Englander with just one name.

John Lahr takes in Patrick Marber's update of the August Strindberg play After Miss Julie and the new musical Memphis.

Elizabeth Kolbert reviews Cass R. Sunstein's book On Rumors, which describes how the Web, with its multitude of partisan sites and blogs, has become a breeding ground for political extremism.

Peter Schjeldahl visits the Arshile Gorky retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

David Denby reviews Amelia, You Cannot Start Without Me--Valery Gergiev, Maestro, and La Danse.

There is a short story by Javier Marías.