Funnyman (comics)

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Funnyman
Funnyman1.jpg
Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948). Cover art by Joe Shuster.
Publication information
Publisher Magazine Enterprises
First appearance Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948)
Created by Jerry Siegel (writer)
Joe Shuster (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoLarry Davis
PartnershipsJune Farrell
Happy
Sgt. Harrigan
Notable aliasesComic Crimebuster

Funnyman is a 1948 American comic book series written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Joe Shuster. It was published by Magazine Enterprises. [1]

Contents

Publication history

After leaving DC Comics and suing that company in a dispute over the rights to their character Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster rejoined their former DC editor Vin Sullivan — who had edited the earliest Superman adventures — at his new company, Magazine Enterprises. [2] Siegel and Shuster's new creation, Funnyman, starred in a series that ran six issues from January to August 1948. [3] In writing the comic, Siegel took inspiration from the comedian Danny Kaye. [4]

In the first issue, Siegel and Shuster mocked what they saw as the rush of Superman clones in a story called "Funman, Comicman and Laffman". [5] In the story, TV comedian Larry Davis dresses up in a costume to catch a fake criminal for a publicity stunt, but he catches a real criminal instead, and decides to become a superhero. Funnyman's enemies include Doc Gimmick, a criminal robot, and the crime team of Schemer Beamer, Bug-Eyes, Crusher, Rockjaw and the Curve. [6] Also present in the Funnyman series are a sidekick named Funnyboy and a secret base called Funnymanor. The comic only ran for six issues. [4] A newspaper comic strip debuted in October 1948, but Funnyman also failed to find an audience in this format, and the strip was soon dropped. [7]

After the failure of Funnyman, Jerry Siegel returned to DC as an artist-for-hire. Joe Shuster was unable to find regular work as an illustrator after Funnyman because of a severe case of macular degeneration. [4] One of Shuster's later projects was an erotic comic series called Nights of Horror . [8]

References

  1. ↑ Yoe, Craig (2016). Super Weird Heroes:Outrageous But Real!. Yoe Books/IDW. p. 147. ISBN   978-1631407451.
  2. ↑ Morris, Jon (2015). The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half Baked Heroes from Comic Book History. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Quirk Books. pp. 54–57. ISBN   978-1-59474-763-2.
  3. ↑ Funnyman at the Grand Comics Database
  4. 1 2 3 Jaffe, Alex (2023-05-18). "The tragedy of Funnyman: How the the creators of Superman tried to make lightning strike twice". Popverse. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  5. ↑ Andrae, Tom; Gordon, Mel (2010). Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman. Feral House. p. 72. ISBN   9781932595789 . Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  6. ↑ Nevins, Jess (2013). Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes. High Rock Press. p. 107. ISBN   978-1-61318-023-5.
  7. ↑ Funnyman at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016.
  8. ↑ Yoe, Craig (2009). Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster. New York: Abrams ComicArts. ISBN   978-0-8109-9634-2.

Further reading

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