Meet Rob, Meet Roman

IT was March 1997, and NR’s “Manchurian Candidates” cover, poking fun at Bill, Al, and Hillary’s zeal in fundraising from Chinese nationals, had enraged the ethnic-grievance industry. Protesters ranted outside our offices in New York and Washington; hundreds of letters poured in; the editor was surrounded by a mob at Yale. But Roman Genn, the artist behind the cover, remained philosophical. “I think that’s fine,” he told a reporter. “Their job is to get ticked off at cartoons, and my job is to draw them. We’re all doing our jobs.”

Genn has been doing his job for NR since 1994, skewering the high and mighty with his spot-on caricatures. And while his work for the magazine has brought him notoriety, his knack for cartooning—and his coolness under fire— have been on display since he was a five-year-old cutup in Moscow. “I wasn’t interested in anything the teachers had to say, so I just wasted all my time drawing my school buddies and insulting them,” says Genn, now 28. “I’d draw teachers so my buddies could laugh. But then I’d get in trouble, and end up having to clean the toilets.”

About the Author

Christopher Rapp

Mr. Rapp is a former member of the National Review editorial staff.

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IT was March 1997, and NR’s “Manchurian Candidates” cover, poking fun at Bill, Al, and Hillary’s zeal in fundraising from Chinese nationals, had enraged the ethnic-grievance industry. Protesters ranted outside our offices in New York and Washington; hundreds of letters poured in; the editor was surrounded by a mob at Yale. But Roman Genn, the artist behind the cover, remained philosophical. “I think that’s fine,” he told a reporter. “Their job is to get ticked off at cartoons, and my job is to draw them. We’re all doing our jobs.”

Genn has been doing his job for NR since 1994, skewering the high and mighty with his spot-on caricatures. And while his work for the magazine has brought him notoriety, his knack for cartooning—and his coolness under fire— have been on display since he was a five-year-old cutup in Moscow. “I wasn’t interested in anything the teachers had to say, so I just wasted all my time drawing my school buddies and insulting them,” says Genn, now 28. “I’d draw teachers so my buddies could laugh. But then I’d get in trouble, and end up having to clean the toilets.”