Still having trouble focusing outward, so we're breaking the post into parts to get it going.
Just a batch of covers this time - all six issues of Funnyman - with the awaited reveal on our creators - Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman! (And The Spectre, of course) *
Alien protector, supernatural avenger, bored clown.
You can't accuse the boys from Cleveland of simply trying to retread their previous ideas.
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*(Thanks to our favorite Mindbender for unbending my recollection on The Spectre. Only Jerry Siegel was involved in that creation, not Joe Shuster)
Just a batch of covers this time - all six issues of Funnyman - with the awaited reveal on our creators - Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman!
Alien protector, supernatural avenger, bored clown.
You can't accuse the boys from Cleveland of simply trying to retread their previous ideas.
===
*(Thanks to our favorite Mindbender for unbending my recollection on The Spectre. Only Jerry Siegel was involved in that creation, not Joe Shuster)
covers from Funnyman 1-6 (1948)
I was so disappointed when I bought the Funnyman trade paperback that was published several years ago--instead of a perfectly reasonable reprinting of the six issues of the series, only some of the stories were collected, wrapped around what can only be described as a poorly written college paper on the history of Jewish comedians. Good thing scans are now available on line in places like the Digital Comics Museum, so these stories can be enjoyed in their entirety, without having to slog through material that I suspect the author was lucky to have earned a C with.
ReplyDelete-Mindbender
Oh, and while Siegel did create (or maybe co-create) the Spectre, the Star-Spangled Kid, and Robotman, Joe Shuster wasn't involved with any of the other characters. He pretty much had his hands full keeping up with Superman, and then Superboy (I'm not sure when he stopped drawing Slam Bradley, the duo's longest running pre-Superman feature).
ReplyDelete-Mindbender
I saw the cover to the reprint edition, but nothing more. You make me glad for my preference to seek out the originals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for catching me on The Spectre - i'll add a corrective note. It's good to have you watching those things since i don't have an editor these days. So it was just Superman and Funnyman, eh? Definitely an odd mix - i wish they'd done more of Funnyman, just to see where they would have taken it.
Well, Funnyman was their only co-creation after Superman was a hit, but they had co-created a number of "pre-superheroes" before that, like Slam Bradley, Bart Regan: Spy, Henri Duval, Dr. Occult, Dr. Mystic (most assume they are the same character, but I don't agree), Radio Patrol, and I think at least one more, not counting the raft of features that eventually only saw print because of the fame the pair had achieved, and then only as historical oddities. And of course, that book of Shuster's "spicy" work, which Siegel had nothing to do with that I know of.
ReplyDelete-Mindbender
Right. I was only talking their "superhero" creations, though i was forgetting Dr. Occult/Mystic. I really haven't seen much or any of Dr. Mystic, not enough to recall anything specific about the character offhand. I suppose that means i'm going to have to go looking.
DeleteNights Of Horror is sitting around here, but i have yet to decide to use it for a Blue Monday feature.