Funnyman is a 1948 American comic book series written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Joe Shuster. It was published by Magazine Enterprises.[1]
| Funnyman | |
|---|---|
 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 ego | Larry Davis |
| Partnerships | June Farrell Happy Sgt. Harrigan |
| Notable aliases | Comic Crimebuster |
Publication history
editAfter 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 a writer-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
edit- ↑ Yoe, Craig (2016). Super Weird Heroes:Outrageous But Real!. Yoe Books/IDW. p. 147. ISBN 978-1631407451.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Funnyman at the Grand Comics Database
- 1 2 3 Jaffe, Alex (2023-05-18). "The tragedy of Funnyman: How the creators of Superman tried to make lightning strike twice". Popverse. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Nevins, Jess (2013). Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes. High Rock Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-61318-023-5.
- ↑ Funnyman at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016.
- ↑ 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
edit- Gordon, Mel; Andrae, Thomas (2010). Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero from the Creators of Superman. Feral House. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-932595-78-9.
External links
edit- Funnyman at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)