''Uncle Art's Funland'' (also known as ''Funland'' and as ''Uncle Nugent's Funland'') is a long-running syndicated weekly puzzle and entertainment feature originated by

Art Nugent Arthur William Nugent (1891 - March 25, 1975), better known as Art Nugent, was an American cartoonist notable for his long-running syndicated puzzle feature, ''Funland'' (aka '' Uncle Art's Funland''), which he drew for four decades. He sometimes ...

(1891–1975). Featuring jokes, riddles, and paper-and-pencil word games, math challenges,

nonograms Nonograms, also known as Hanjie, Paint by Numbers, Picross, Griddlers, and Pic-a-Pix, and by various other names, are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the side of the grid to r ...

connect-the-dots Connect the dots (also known as connect-the-dots, dot to dot, or join the dots) is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzzles frequently c ...

art,

crossword puzzles A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the ans ...

and

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

s, ''Funland'' has appeared in newspapers and

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

since 1933, and has been syndicated regularly since 1950. Nugent credited ''Uncle Art's Funland'''s ongoing success "to its being one of the few newspaper features created exclusively for children. 'Some cartoons aren't really meant for children,' Nugent says. 'The language is too complicated and the jokes are too hard for them to understand.' With ''Uncle Art's Funland'', however, toddlers enjoy coloring the pictures, while older children work the puzzles."

Publication history

Origins

After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Nugent worked as the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

s puzzle cartoonist for eight years."Arthur Nugent, 84, Who Drew 'Funland' Puzzle Page, Is Dead,"
''The New York Times'' (March 27, 1975). For the ''World'', Nugent created a feature called ''Puzzlers'' in 1927, which was syndicated until c. 1931 by the ''World'''s Press Publishing Co. ''Puzzlers'' had the same elements that characterized ''Uncle Art's Funland'', launched in 1933, which introduced Nugent's autobiographical character, Uncle Nugent (a.k.a. Uncle Art).

In comic books

After initially failing to be syndicated in 1933, Nugent took his puzzle page concept to the new medium of

. Essentially the same concept as ''Uncle Art's Funland'', the single-page feature was published in many Golden Age comics in the 1930s and 1940s. ''Funland'' was published in almost every issue of

Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 1928 ...

's ''

Famous Funnies ''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following sem ...

'' from 1934 to 1948. Other publishers who ran the feature — under a variety of titles — during this period included

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

All-American Publications All-American PublicationsThe name is spelled with a hyphen per its logo (pictured) and sources includinat Don Markstein's ToonopediaArchivedfrom the original on April 15, 2012. was one of two American comic book companies that merged to form the ...

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfr ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Holyoke Publishing The Holyoke Publishing Company was an American magazine and comic-book publisher with offices in Holyoke, and Springfield, Massachusetts, and New York City, Its best-known comics characters were Blue Beetle and the superhero duo Cat-Man (later r ...

, and

Toby Press Toby Press was an American comic-book company that published from 1949 to 1955. Founded by Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp and himself an established comic strip writer, the company published reprints of Capp's ''Li'l Abner'' strip; ...

Syndicated feature

Beginning in 1950, ''Funland'' was regularly syndicated until after Nugent's death.Nugent entry
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Accessed Jan. 1, 2019. Originally syndicated by the

Bell-McClure Syndicate The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West 43 ...

, it became part of

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

in 1972, lasting there until 1991. In 1975, ''Funland'' was being distributed by United Features to more than 100 newspapers. Nugent's son Art Nugent, Jr. (1926–1997) took over ''Uncle Art's Funland'' in the early 1970s with occasional contributions by the elder Nugent until 1974. ''Uncle Art's Funland'' ended in 1991 but was revived in circa 2009 by

United Media United Media was a large Column (periodical), editorial column and comic strip newspaper print syndication, syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comi ...

. It is now distributed by

Andrews McMeel Syndication Andrews McMeel Syndication (formerly Universal Uclick) is an American content syndicate which provides syndication in print, online and on mobile devices for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and cartoons and various other c ...

under the

United Features United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

brand. Today, the puzzle is produced by N.A. Nugent (hypothesized by some to be "Not A Nugent").Degg, D. D
"Comic strip reruns with current year copyright,"
rec.arts.comics.strips (July 31, 2017).

Comic books

Essentially the same concept as ''Uncle Art's Funland'', the single-page feature was published in many Golden Age comics under a variety of titles: * ''

'' #1–162 (

, 1934–1948) — as ''Funland'' and occasionally ''Funland Everybody's Playmate'' * ''Popular Comics'' #1–35 (

, 1936–1938) — as ''Nugent's Originals'' or ''Real Magic'' * ''The Comics'' (Dell Comics, 1938) — as ''Comics Puzzles'' or ''A Page for Little Artists'' * ''

The Funnies ''The Funnies'' was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing (Dell Comics), the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book. ''The Funnies'' (1929–1930) In 1929, George ...

'' #1-27 (Dell Comics, 1936–1938) — as ''Home Magic'' or ''Everybody's Playmate'' * ''

All-American Comics ''All-American Comics'' was a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Green ...

'' #1–24 (

, 1939–1941) — as ''Real Magic to Mystify Your Friends'' or ''Nugent's Original Puzzles, Games, Tricks & Comics'' * ''Champ Comics'' (

, 1940–1943) — as ''Champ Puzzlers'' * ''All-American Comics'', ''

Sensation Comics ''Sensation Comics'' is the title of an American comic book anthology series published by DC Comics that ran for 109 issues between 1942 and 1952. For most of its run, the lead feature was Wonder Woman, a character which had been introduced in ''Al ...

'', and ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

'' (DC Comics, 1943–1944) — as ''Victory Puzzles'' * ''

All-Flash ''All-Flash'', originally published as ''All-Flash Quarterly'', was a comic book magazine series published by All-American Publications and later National Periodicals (DC Comics) featuring superhero Jay Garrick, the original Flash. The series was t ...

'', ''All-American Comics'', and ''

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is best known for introducing the superhero Batman i ...

'' (DC Comics, 1943–1945) — as ''Detective Puzzles'' * ''Sparkling Stars'' #13–33 (

, 1946–1948) — as ''Puzzle Page'' * ''

Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon charac ...

'' (

, 1953–1955) — as ''Play Fun'' or ''Puzzle Page''

Books and collections

The Oakland Press ''The Oakland Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Oakland County, Michigan with headquarters in Troy. It is owned by 21st Century Media, with which its parent company merged in 2013 after filing for bankruptcy. The local historical society t ...

published a collection of ''Funland'' puzzles (created by Art Nugent, Jr.) in ''The Oakland Press Funny Book'' (October 8, 1978). ''Funland: Super-Packed with Puzzles, Jokes, Amazing Facts and Lots more Exciting Fun!'', by Art Nugent and Leo White, is a 132-page paperback collection published by Playmore in 1982.

References

External links

''Uncle Art's Funland''
at GoComics
''Uncle Art's Funland''
at Andrews McMeel Syndication {{DEFAULTSORT:Uncle Art's Funland American comic strips 1933 comics debuts 1950 comics debuts Problem solving Puzzles