Who was Bruce McCall? Satirical artist who conjured a ‘Retrofuture,’ dies at 87

Bruce McCall, whose satirical illustrations for National Lampoon and The New Yorker conjured up a plutocratic fantasy world of luxury zeppelin travel, indoor golf courses, and cars like the Bulgemobile Airdreme, died in the Bronx on Friday, May 5 2023. He was 87.

McCall, who was born on May 10, 1935, in Simcoe, Ontario, was a comic book fanatic who developed an early talent for drawing fantastical flying machines, blimps, bulbous-nosed muscle cars, and futuristic dioramas.

He joined the McCaffrey & McCall agency, which had just won the Mercedes account (co-founded by an unrelated McCall). He was named executive vice president and creative director of Mercedes advertising after several years as creative director. He resigned in 1993.

His career as a writer and illustrator had taken off by that point. Mr. McCall, who had been a fan of The New Yorker since childhood, submitted the first of more than 80 humor articles for the magazine’s “Shouts and Murmurs” section in 1980, the first of more than 80 to be published over the next 40 years.

After Tina Brown became editor in 1992, his illustrations began to appear on the magazine’s cover and in the back of the book on a regular basis.

Many of his illustrations were on display in the exhibition “The Fantastic City: Bruce McCall’s New York” at the New-York Historical Society in 2021.

Mr. McCall wrote the children’s book “Marveltown” in 2008 and illustrated “The Steps Across the Water,” a children’s book published in 2010 by New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik. In 2013, he collaborated with David Letterman on “This Land Was Made for You and Me (But Mostly Me): Billionaires in the Wild,” a lavishly illustrated satire of America’s superrich.

McCall is survived by his Polly McCall wife their daughter, Amanda McCall; two brothers, Walter and Michael; and a sister, Christine Jerome.