It’s the holy grail for cartoonists … the New Yorker.

But getting a cartoon in the venerable magazine is no easy task. Not only do cartoons in it have to be funny, they have to be the right kind of funny. Finding that elusive formula is tough, even for cartoonists who’ve already landed their works in the magazine’s pages.

That’s the inspiration for The Rejection Collection: Cartoons you Never Saw , and Never Will See, in the New Yorker.

Created by cartoonist Matthew Diffee – who has had several cartoons printed in the New Yorker and many, many more rejected by its editors – the book is like a higher-brow version of Gary Larson’s The Far Side anthologies. It’s also a fun read.

Why are cartoons rejected at the New Yorker? There are several reasons, the most obvious being that the dismissed works aren’t funny. But Diffee’s book shows that there are plenty of really funny cartoons that don’t make the New Yorker for other reasons.

Here’s an example, from a story written last year by the Washington Post: A cartoon by artist Drew Dernavich shows a doctor handing a rubber glove to a male patient. The caption underneath it? “Give a man an exam, and he’ll be healthy for a day; Teach a man to examine himself, and he’ll be healthy for a lifetime.”

That’s funny, right? But try picturing it in the regal pages of the New Yorker. Can’t do it, can you? See, the cartoon is funny. It’s just not funny in the right way.

With other cartoons, it’s easier to understand why the New Yorkers' editors turned down the work. For instance, there’s the cartoon by Leo Cullum showing a beleaguered businessman on the phone, his eyes bugging in surprise. The caption reads, “To return to the original menu, say ‘Goddamn son of a bitch!’”

Yep, it’s hard to picture that cartoon in the New Yorker, too.

Pick up the The Rejection Collection, published in hardcover by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, if you’re feeling particularly blue about your own career fortunes. The artists whose work is featured in these pages are awfully good, and awfully funny. But sometimes, as this graphic novel proves, that’s not enough.