Famous Funnies: a Carnival of Comics

Title: Famous Funnies: a Carnival of Comics

Creator: Alexander, F.O., J. P. McEvoy, J. H. Striebel, Gene Byrnes, Ham Fisher, Al Capp, Al Smith, Clare Victor Dwiggins, Pop Mormand, A. E. Hayward, John Hix, Harry J. Tuthill, Sol Hess, Wallace A. Carlson, Charles M. Payne and Frank Godwin.

Date: 1933

Source: VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives

Publisher: Eastern Color Printing

Description: This volume is often lauded as the progenitor of the American comic book. A very important historical artifact in its own right, it contains both newspaper strips and new content bound together in the form of a book. In the context of this discussion, Famous Funnies is a particularly good example of the changes that occur between printing on one form of paper versus another. The first page of the story is printed on the back of the cover, and the second page is printed on the first interior page. The interior pages are newsprint, while the exterior cover is a thicker paper with a gloss finish, which lead to the strong visual differences between the two first pages. The first page that was printed onto the thicker gloss paper of the cover has bolder colors, as the whiter surface makes the variances in the ink easily visible. Additionally, the surface of the cover paper is less porous, so the ink has not absorbed as far into the page. This is not the case for the second page that was printed on a newsprint sheet. The ink colors here have a noticeably duller appearance, as the newsprint absorbed more of the pigment, and the darker tone of the paper dulled the image further since the lighter colors rely on the color of the paper for their appearance.

Issue Title: Famous Funnies: a Carnival of Comics

Issue Number: 0

Publisher/Imprint: Eastern Color Printing

Writer: Alexander, F.O., J. P. McEvoy, J. H. Striebel, Gene Byrnes, Ham Fisher, Al Capp, Al Smith, Clare Victor Dwiggins, Pop Mormand, A. E. Hayward, John Hix, Harry J. Tuthill, Sol Hess, Wallace A. Carlson, Charles M. Payne and Frank Godwin.

Artists: Alexander, F.O., J. P. McEvoy, J. H. Striebel, Gene Byrnes, Ham Fisher, Al Capp, Al Smith, Clare Victor Dwiggins, Pop Mormand, A. E. Hayward, John Hix, Harry J. Tuthill, Sol Hess, Wallace A. Carlson, Charles M. Payne and Frank Godwin.

Year: 1933