The Funnies

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The is about the 1930s proto-comic book series The Funnies. For other uses see Funnies (disambiguation)

The Funnies is an American publication of the late 1920s that was a seminal precursor of comic books.

In 1929, George T. Delacorte Jr.'s Dell Publishing, founded eight years earlier, published The Funnies, described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert".^[1] (This is not to be confused with Dell's later same-name comic book, which began publication in 1936.) Comics historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color, newsprint periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands".^[2]

The magazine ran 36 issues, published Saturdays through Oct. 16, 1930. The cover price rose from 10¢ to 30¢ with issue #3. This was reduced to a nickel from issue #22 to the end.

The Funnies helped lay the groundwork for two subsequent publications in 1933: Eastern Color Printing's similar proto-comic book, the eight-page newsprint tabloid Funnies on Parade, and the Eastern Color / Dell collaboration Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics,^[3] considered by historians the first true American comic book.^[4]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• All in Color for a Dime by Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson ISBN 0-87341-498-5
• The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide by Robert Overstreet — Edition #35 ISBN 0-375-72107-X
• The Steranko History of Comics, Vol. 1 & 2, by James Steranko — Vol. 1 ISBN 0-517-50188-0
• CBW Comic History: The Early Years...1896 to 1937, Part II
• The ComicBooks.com: The History of Comic Books
• Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Dell Comics
• Grand Comics Database: The Funnies (1936 series)