This Sunday The New York Times will unveil its newly redesigned Week In Review section, which will include editorial cartoons by Brian McFadden, creator of the weekly comic strip "Big Fat Whale."

McFadden says he will doing a weekly comic "that hopefully makes a point or two while also being funny."

"The strip will cover something topical, but it can be anything from the week's big story to something that slipped through the news cycle's cracks," McFadden said. "As long as I have something unique and funny to say about it, I can make a comic about it."

As part of the redesign the Times will drop its long-running roundup of syndicated editorial cartoons and replace it with work commissioned exclusively for the paper, which puts it in line with how they handle columns and essays.

Asked how it feels to land at the nation's biggest newspaper, McFadden said, "I don't think it's fully sunk in yet." The gig is scheduled to last a few months with the intent of the space rotating to other cartoonists.

In a statement to Editor & Publisher, Op-Ed page art director Aviva Michaelov said, “There are more terrific cartoonists out there now than ever before. I hope this feature can be a stage to exhibit their talents.”

"I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to succeed," McFadden said, "so when it comes time to pick the next person for the gig, another alt-weekly cartoonist will be at the top of the pile, instead of the bottom, with the escort ads."

-Matt Bors