Punch and Judy Comics is a golden age comic book series in the humor genre, which also contains many stories in the funny animal genre. The series was published by Hillman Periodicals

Hillman Periodicals

Hillman Periodicals, Inc. was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher...

 from 1944 to December 1951, and ran for 32 issues, in three volumes. The series is most notable for showcasing some early funny animal work of legendary comic book writer/artist Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....

, who provided two characters for the book, Lockjaw the Alligator and Earl the Bunny.

The main feature concerns a living marionette named Punch, who is created by a genial toymaker named Uncle Tony, and the puppets best friend, a blonde haired girl named Judy. The strip draws for inspiration more from Pinocchio

Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...

 than typical Punch and Judy

Punch and Judy

Punch and Judy is a traditional, popular puppet show featuring the characters of Mr. Punch and his wife, Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Punch and one other character...

 puppet performances. The artist on the first issue and the probable creator of the series was Joe Oriolo

Joe Oriolo

Joseph "Joe" Oriolo was an American cartoon animator, writer, director and producer, known as the creator of the Felix the Cat TV series.-Early life:...

, who had recently worked for Fleischer Studios

Fleischer Studios

Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...

 and created Casper the Friendly Ghost

Casper the Friendly Ghost

Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...

.

Other features include Fatsy McPig, Captain Catfish and Buttons the Rabbit. One feature notable for its racist overtones is Little Horsefeathers, a humor strip about a hapless Native American boy, in the “Little Hiawatha” mode.

All Hillman periodical publications are in the public domain, and have been often reprinted by various companies, including Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...

 with Airboy

Airboy

Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writers Charles Biro and Dick Wood and artist Al Camy.-Golden Age:Airboy...

and The Complete Jack Kirby reprints. The comics entered the public domain 28 years after their first printing, and the copyrights were never renewed for the second term of 28 years available.³

Due to either a publishing error or the vagaries of publishing issue number 9 of volume one does not seem to exist, but issues 8 and 10 do.

According to the Grand Comics Database:
“Vol. 1/#7 is February 1947; V1/#8 is March 1947 in indicia, but April is listed on cover; V1/#10 is May 1946. Does V1/#9 exist? None of the Punch and Judy collectors known have a copy.”¹

There are currently scans of several issues of this comic available at Wikisource.