Funnyman (comics)

Funnyman
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

Funnyman is a comic book character whose adventures were published in 1948 by Magazine Enterprises.^[1]

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 (cover-dated Jan.–Aug. 1948).^[3]

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".^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

References

^ 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
^ 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.