R. Kikuo Johnson’s “Free Play”

For the cover of the October 6, 2025, issue, the cartoonist R. Kikuo Johnson portrayed one of the simple pleasures afforded to new parents besieged by the pressures of a relentless consumer culture: the joy of watching your child play. “A major concern that my wife and I shared while planning to start a family was that we might not have enough space in our small Brooklyn apartment,” Johnson said. “And that was before our daughter arrived, along with the gifts, the hand-me-downs, and all the essential ‘learning’ toys.”