Funnyman (comics)

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title: "Funnyman (comics)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1948-comics-debuts", "1948-comics-endings", "comics-characters-introduced-in-1948", "american-comic-strips", "characters-created-by-jerry-siegel", "characters-created-by-joe-shuster", "fictional-comedians", "magazine-enterprises-titles", "fictional-clowns"] description: "American comic book series" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnyman_(comics)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American comic book series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox comics character "]

Field	Value
image	Funnyman1.jpg
converted	y
caption	Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948). Cover art by Joe Shuster.
publisher	Magazine Enterprises
debut	Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948)
creators	Jerry Siegel (writer)
Joe Shuster (artist)
alter_ego	Larry Davis
partners	June Farrell
Happy
Sgt. Harrigan
aliases	Comic Crimebuster
cat	super
hero	y
::

| image = Funnyman1.jpg | imagesize = | converted = y | caption = Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948). Cover art by Joe Shuster. | alt = | publisher = Magazine Enterprises | debut = Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948) | creators = Jerry Siegel (writer) Joe Shuster (artist) | alter_ego = Larry Davis | species = | partners = June Farrell Happy Sgt. Harrigan | aliases = Comic Crimebuster | powers = | cat = super | subcat = | hero = y | sortkey = Funnyman is a 1948 American comic book series written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Joe Shuster. It was published by Magazine Enterprises.

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. Siegel and Shuster's new creation, Funnyman, starred in a series that ran six issues from January to August 1948. In writing the comic, Siegel took inspiration from the comedian Danny Kaye.

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". 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. Also present in the Funnyman series are a sidekick named Funnyboy and a secret base called Funnymanor. The comic only ran for six issues. 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.

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. One of Shuster's later projects was an erotic comic series called Nights of Horror.

References

References

1. (2016). "Super Weird Heroes:Outrageous But Real!". Yoe Books/IDW.
2. (2015). "The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half Baked Heroes from Comic Book History". Quirk Books.
3. "Funnyman".
4. Jaffe, Alex. (2023-05-18). "The tragedy of Funnyman: How the creators of Superman tried to make lightning strike twice".
5. (2010). "Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman". Feral House.
6. (2013). "Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes". High Rock Press.
7. [http://www.toonopedia.com/funnyman.htm Funnyman] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240527221632/https://www.webcitation.org/6jOukXHye?url=http://toonopedia.com/funnyman.htm Archived] from the original on July 30, 2016.
8. Yoe, Craig. (2009). "Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster". Abrams ComicArts.

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