''The Funnies'' was the name of two

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

publications from

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

(

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" ...

), the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of

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 oft ...

, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.

''The Funnies'' (1929–1930)

In 1929,

George T. Delacorte Jr. George T. Delacorte Jr. (20 June 1894 – 4 May 1991) was an American magazine publisher, born in New York City. He founded the Dell Publishing in 1921. His goal was to entertain readers who were not satisfied with the genteel publications a ...

, founded eight years earlier, began publishing ''The Funnies'', described by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

as "a short-lived newspaper

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

insert". Comics historian

Ron Goulart Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author. He published novelizations and other work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson, Co ...

describes the 16-page, four-color,

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has a ...

periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book." The magazine ran 36 issues – originally weekly, then monthly from April 1929 to April 1930, and then weekly again – published Saturdays from January 16, 1929, to October 16, 1930.''Funnies,_The''_(Dell,_Film_Humor,_Inc._[#1-2
/nowiki>;_Dell_Publishing_Co._[#3-36.html" ;"title="1-2">''Funnies, The'' (Dell, Film Humor, Inc. [#1-2
/nowiki>; Dell Publishing Co. [#3-36">1-2">''Funnies, The'' (Dell, Film Humor, Inc. [#1-2
/nowiki>; Dell Publishing Co. [#3-36/nowiki> imprint, 1929 Series)] at the Grand Comics Database The cover price rose from 10¢ to 30¢ with issue #3. This was reduced to a nickel from issue #22 to the end. Victor E. Pazmiño drew most of the covers for ''The Funnies'' (a tradition carried on some years later by the first true comic book ''

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 semin ...

''); he also contributed interior strips. Contributors included Stookie Allen and Boody Rogers, as well as Charles Curtis, Ed Hermes, Howard Williamson, F. N. Litten, Kenneth Whipple, Charles Driscoll, Joe Archibald, Sidney Garber, Earle Danesford, Hafon, J. Molina, Bencho, Gil King, and Buford Tone. Carl E. Schultze's '' Foxy Grandpa'' strip appeared in this early comics periodical. ''The Funnies'' helped lay the groundwork for two subsequent publications in 1933:

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 similar proto-comic book, the eight-page newsprint tabloid '' Funnies on Parade'', and the Eastern Color / Dell collaboration ''

: A Carnival of Comics'', considered by historians the first true

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

''The Funnies'' (1936 to 1942) and ''New Funnies''

's second publication by this name was a standard

published during the 1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known chara ...

. Packaged by Max Gaines and editor

Sheldon Mayer Sheldon Mayer (; April 1, 1917 – December 21, 1991) was an American comics artist, writer, and editor. One of the earliest employees of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications, Mayer produced almost all of his comics wor ...

, it ran 64 issues (

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d Oct. 1936 - May 1942).''Funnies, The'' (Dell, 1936 Series)
at the Grand Comics Database. A rival to Eastern Color's successful comic-book series ''

'',Goulart, Ron. "The Funnies: II" ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'', p. 163 it similarly reprinted

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

comic strips A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

, mostly NEA-syndicate comics such as ''

Alley Oop ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters an ...

'', by

V. T. Hamlin Vincent Trout Hamlin (May 10, 1900 – June 14, 1993), who preferred the name V. T. Hamlin, was an American comic strip cartoonist. He created the popular, long-run comic strip ''Alley Oop'', syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. ...

, and ''

Captain Easy '' Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune '' is an American action/adventure comic strip created by Roy Crane that was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association beginning on Sunday, July 30, 1933. The strip ran for more than five decades until it ...

'', by

Roy Crane Royston Campbell Crane (November 22, 1901 – July 7, 1977), who signed his work Roy Crane, was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer. He pioneered the adventure comic strip, establi ...

, as well as others including ''

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspape ...

'', by Bud Fisher, ''

Tailspin Tommy ''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, " Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and then ...

'', by

Hal Forrest Hal Forrest ( Philadelphia, July 22, 1895 - 1959) was an American comic strip artist best known for his work on ''Tailspin Tommy''. Biography When he was 16, he drew a comic strip, ''Percy the Boy Scout'', for the ''Philadelphia Telegraph'', and ...

, '' Flapper Fanny Says'' by Gladys Parker, and '' Annibelle'' by Dorothy Urfer. Reprints of Bob Moore and Carl Pfeufer's science-fiction adventure comic strip ''Don Dixon and the Lost Empire''Don Dixon and the Lost Empire
in

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on January 12, 2015. Some sources misspell the title of the accompanying strip as "Tad of the Tambark". As Markstein explains, tanbark "refers to bark used in tanning, which is also used to cover circus rings". appeared as one- or two-page features in ''The Funnies''; as did

Norman W. Marsh Norman Winfield Marsh Gives dates February 25, 1898 - February 10, 1980. (February 25, 1898 or 1899 ources differ– February 10, 1980) was an American cartoonist and comic strip creator known for his character Dan Dunn, a hardboiled detective. ...

's ''

Dan Dunn Dan Dunn is a fictional detective created by Norman W. Marsh. He first appeared in ''Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48'', a proto-comic book from 1933, produced by Humor Publishing. He subsequently appeared in newspaper comic strips from 193 ...

'' strips. ''The Funnies'' began running original material with Mayer's feature ''Scribbly'', about a boy cartoonist, laid out to look like a Sunday

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

. Art Nugent's single-page puzzle and game feature, called either ''Home Magic'' or ''Everybody's Playmate'', ran in issues #1–27. Other, gradual bits of original comics followed, including six-page adaptations of

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

s, beginning with issue #20 (May 1938), and a four-page true-crime feature, "The Crime Busters", drawn by

Al McWilliams Alden Spurr McWilliams generally credited as Al McWilliams and A. McWilliams (February 2, 1916 – March 19, 1993),

, beginning the following issues. Following Gaines and Mayer leaving to produce work for

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 th ...

, most reprints other than ''Alley Oop'' were abandoned in favor of original content, including "Mr. District Attorney", based on the

radio series A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

, and " John Carter of Mars", adapted from the

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, ...

series of novels, and after a few issues illustrated by his son,

John Coleman Burroughs John Coleman Burroughs (28 February 1913 – 22 February 1979) was an American illustrator known for his illustrations of the works of his father, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Life John Burroughs was born in Chicago, the son of Edgar Rice ...

Captain Midnight ''Captain Midnight'' (later rebranded on television as ''Jet Jackson, Flying Commando'') is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. The character's popularity throughout the 1940s and into the mid-1950s e ...

adventures were published in ''The Funnies'' issues #59 and 61–63.

Gaylord Du Bois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for Del ...

's American Indian feature, "Young Hawk" first began in ''The Funnies''. E. C. Stoner mainly worked as a cover artist, drawing covers for ''The Funnies'', the latter of which prominently featured the character Phantasmo, Dell's first original superhero feature.

''New Funnies''

The comic book switched formats and title to become ''New Funnies'' with issue #65 (July 1942). Now devoted to such children's characters as

Raggedy Ann Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) that appeared in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and a triangle nose. Gruelle r ...

and

Andy Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pia ...

, and such talking animal characters as the

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

-based

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 characte ...

, Oswald the Rabbit, and

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by ...

, it lasted through issue #288 (April 1962), with its title changed to ''

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lant ...

New Funnies'' after 44 issues, beginning with issue #109 (March 1946).Walter Lantz New Funnies
at the Grand Comics Database.

References

External links

* * * *
Dell Comics
at

Archived
from the original on September 12, 2017.
Multi-part discussion of ''The Funnies'', particularly issue #34 (Oct. 4, 1930)
''Stripper's Guide'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Funnies, The American comic strips Humor comics Gag-a-day comics 1929 comics debuts 1930 comics endings 1936 comics debuts 1942 comics endings 1942 comics debuts 1962 comics endings Dell Comics titles

''The Funnies'' (1929–1930)

''The Funnies'' (1936 to 1942) and ''New Funnies''

''New Funnies''

See also

References

Further reading

External links