Famous Funnies is an American publication of the 1930s that represents what popular culture historians consider the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, (literally: the culture of the people) consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ... An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States containing a narrative in the comics form. ...

Eastern Color Press' Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics (Eastern Color Printing, 1933)

The creation of the modern American comic book came in stages. Dell Publishing in 1929 published a 16-page, newsprint periodical of original, comic strip-styled material titled The Funnies and 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.) Historian Ron Goulart describes the four-color, newsstand periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book".^[2] It was followed in 1933 by Eastern Color Printing's Funnies on Parade, a similarly newsprint tabloid but only eight pages^[3] and composed of several comic strips licenced from the McNaught and McClure Syndicate and reprinted in color. Neither sold nor available on newsstands, it was sent free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Proctor & Gamble soap and toiletries products. Image File history File links FamousFunnies1933. ... Image File history File links FamousFunnies1933. ... An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States containing a narrative in the comics form. ... Dell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. ... Newsprint is low-cost, low-quality, non-archival paper. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... The Great Hall interior. ... Newspaper sizes in August 2005. ... Color printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). ... A typical newsstand in New York City. ... Procter & Gamble Co. ...

That same year, however, Eastern Color salesperson Maxwell Gaines and sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish the 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics,^[4] considered by historians the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishng".^[2] It was distributed through the Woolworth's department store chain, though it is unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover (see above) displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to Gaines "sticking a ten-cent pricetag [sic] on the comic books".^[2] Max Gaines (born Maxwell Charles Gaines in the 1890s; died August 20, 1947) was a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book. ... F.W. Woolworth Company was the original USA based chain of five and dime stores. ... The interior of a typical Macys department store. ... Sic is a Latin word meaning thus or so. In writing, it is italicized and placed within square brackets — [sic] — to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, or other preceding quoted material is a verbatim reproduction of the quoted original and is not a transcription error. ...

Famous Funnies #1 (July 1934). Cover art by Jon Mayes.

When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company, it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression, selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print though ironically running Eastern Color more than $4,000 in the red.^[2] That quickly changed, with the book turning a $30,000 profit each issue starting with #12.^[2] Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium. Image File history File links FamousFunnies_n1(1934). ... Image File history File links FamousFunnies_n1(1934). ... The Great Depression was an economic downturn which started in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s. ... For other uses of the word Media see media (disambiguation). ...

See also

• American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States containing a narrative in the comics form. ...

Footnotes

Collins was a Scottish printing company founded by a Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in partnership with Charles Chalmers, the younger brother of Thomas Chalmers, minister of Tron Church, Glasgow. ...

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
• Grand Comics Database: Famous Funnies: Carnival of Comics