How would the late Abner Dean get attention? Some blog mentions him? That seems about it, at this point. Maybe somebody does a compilation of Great Cartoonists of the 20th Century, and if copyright allows, and payment is made, he'll be in there?
Comedy in book form, be it cartoons or essays, is pretty fragile. People don't even read Will Rogers, much less (very much less) the established stars from years ago such as H. Allen Smith and novelist Thorne Smith.
Abner Epstein (March 18 1910 – June 30 1982) seemed to arrive at his unusual style a little after Steig. It was a time when cartoonists (especially in The New Yorker) seemed to be influenced by Dali and the avant garde. Why be old fashioned or saucy, when one could be satiric and artistic?
I asked Lee Lorenz, who compiled a book on Steig, if Steig had a rivalry going with this Abner Dean guy. Lee said no, Steig didn't seem to be irked by Abner Dean. Steig was more irritated by Syd Hoff. Hoff borrowed Steig's style of doing homely tenement characters, as opposed to Steig's other style, which involved odd, symbolic cartoons.
Both Steig and Dean put out collections of cartoons with intellectual titles. Steig published "The Lonely Ones" in 1942 and "Agony in the Kindergarten," among others. Abner Dean offered "It's a Long Way to Heaven" (1945) and "What am I Doing Here" 1947). As for the latter title, how existentialist could you get? That book was reprinted in 2016, intended I guess to push new interest in Mr. Dean. You didn't know it was reprinted, did you?
Abner Dean and William Steig both drew cartoons for The New Yorker that were not intended to get a laugh. That's a bit different from the cartoons you see currently in that magazine...which are supposed to be funny and aren't. They won't be missed.
So sad. Dean was so awesome.
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