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Famous Funnies is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 publication of the 1930s that represents what popular culture
Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of Distinction memes, ideas, Perspective s and Attitude s that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture....
 historians consider the first true American comic book
American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. The standard dimensions are 17 x 26 cm , although they were larger in the past....
, following seminal precursors.
creation of the modern American comic book
Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in 1934. Despite the term, comic books do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter; in fact, it is often serious and action-oriented....
 came in stages. Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. It was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr.. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines....
 in 1929 published a 16-page, newsprint
Newsprint

Newsprint is low-cost, Preservation paper most commonly used to print newspapers, plus other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel....
 periodical of original, comic strip
Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story.Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many such strips are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet....
-styled material titled The Funnies
The Funnies

The Funnies is an United States 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"....
 and described by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
 as "a short-lived newspaper
Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
 tabloid
Tabloid

A tabloid is an industry term which refers to a smaller newspaper format per spread; to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and entertainment, often distributed free of charge ; or to a newspaper that tends to emphasize sensationalism crime stories, gossip columns repeating scandalous innuend...
 insert".






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Famous Funnies is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 publication of the 1930s that represents what popular culture
Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of Distinction memes, ideas, Perspective s and Attitude s that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture....
 historians consider the first true American comic book
American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. The standard dimensions are 17 x 26 cm , although they were larger in the past....
, following seminal precursors.

Publication history

The creation of the modern American comic book
Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in 1934. Despite the term, comic books do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter; in fact, it is often serious and action-oriented....
 came in stages. Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. It was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr.. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines....
 in 1929 published a 16-page, newsprint
Newsprint

Newsprint is low-cost, Preservation paper most commonly used to print newspapers, plus other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel....
 periodical of original, comic strip
Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story.Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many such strips are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet....
-styled material titled The Funnies
The Funnies

The Funnies is an United States 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"....
 and described by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
 as "a short-lived newspaper
Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
 tabloid
Tabloid

A tabloid is an industry term which refers to a smaller newspaper format per spread; to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and entertainment, often distributed free of charge ; or to a newspaper that tends to emphasize sensationalism crime stories, gossip columns repeating scandalous innuend...
 insert". (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
Color printing

Color printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color .While there are many techniques for reproducing images in color, specific graphic processes and industrial equipment are used for mass reproduction of color images on paper....
, newsstand periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book". It was followed in 1933 by Eastern Color Printing's Funnies on Parade
Funnies on Parade

Funnies on Parade is an United States publication of the early 1930s that was a seminal precursor of comic books.The creation of the modern American comic book came in stages....
, a similarly newsprint tabloid but only eight pages and composed of several comic strips licenced from the McNaught Syndicate
McNaught Syndicate

The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate which was founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt and Charles McAdam....
 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 Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble Co. is a Fortune 500, United States multinational corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, that manufactures a wide range of Fast moving consumer goods....
 soap and toiletries products.

That same year, 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, 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 publishing". It was distributed through the Woolworth's
F. W. Woolworth Company

The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retailing company that was one of the original United States Five and dime. The first Woolworth's store was founded, with a loan of $300, in 1878 by Frank Woolworth....
 department store
Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant Merchandise#Product_line....
 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
SIC

Sic is a Latin word that means "thus" or, in writing, "it was thus in the source material".Sic may also refer to:* Sic, Cluj, a commune in Romania...
] on the comic books". 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
American News Company

American News Company was a magazine distribution company which dominated the distribution market in the forties and fifties. In 1957, a speculator became aware that a book-keeping peculiarity in their accounts could allow a large profit from liquidating the company....
, it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
, selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print though ironically running Eastern Color more than $4,000 in the red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium.

Footnotes