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The Early Years... 1896 to 1937
Late in 19th century America, comic strips began to appear in the Sunday supplements of newspapers. The
first among these comic strips was
 1896's The Yellow Kid, considered
the 1st comic strip |
Richard Felton Outcault's
The Yellow Kid which appeared in the February
16, 1896 Hearst New York American. In March 1897, these strips were compiled into Hearst's Sunday Journal
and and sold for 5 cents. From this humble beginning an industry was born, though it would not have
immediate success.
From this time through the early 1930's, many publishers produced cartoon books for the public, including
many promotion comics. Though many of these companies quickly vanished, their characters remain to this
day and are among the most well known, including Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Popeye, Mutt & Jeff,
Little Nemo, and Buster
Brown. It was also during this time that one of the earliest "funny animals"
Krazy Kat, first appeared. In 1910 George Herriman began featuring
Krazy Kat in his daily newpaper in "The Family Upstairs" strip. By 1916 Krazy
Kat was starring in his own color Sunday strip.
 Krazy Kat endures to this day |
The year after Krazy Kat's debut, in an attempt to boost circulation, the Chicago
American produced a Mutt and Jeff promotion. Readers could receive a 18 by 6 inch landscape book by clipping
six coupons from the newspaper. Despite the fact that this comic sold a remarkable 45,000 copies, it was not
for another eighteen years that it would be done again. In the meantime, in 1922 a reprint magazine, Comic
Monthly, appeared with each issue devoted to reprints of a separate comic strip.
In January 1929 George Delacorte, working for pulp publisher New Fiction Company, published The Funnies
No. 1, the first four-color comic newstand publication, featuring original comic pages and a cover price
of 10 cents. Until No. 5, it was a weekly publication the same size as the free Sunday supplements, making
confusion easy and ensuring it's failure. In an attempt to save the publication, Delacarte reduced the
price to 5 cents with No. 25, however The Funnies ceased publication with No.36. Among The Funnies historic
firsts was the publication of work by Victoria Pazmino, the first published female comic book artist.
During this time many other still popular characters began appearing in newspaper strips. In January 1929,
the pulp favorite, Tarzan of the Apes, drawn by the master Hal Foster, began his daily strip and soon bcame
one of the most popular early strips. In January 1930, two years after appearing in his first sound cartoon,
Mickey Mouse made his strip debut. After Ub Iwerks' short run to begin the strip, Disney artist Floyd
Gottfredson would take over the writing and drawing chores for the next twenty years, receiving no credit,
with the Walt Disney signature appearing on all strips. All told, he worked on over 15,000 strips over a
45 year period. In October 1931, Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, originally called Plainclothes Tracy, first
appeared in the pages of the Chicago Tribune, inspired by the local gang wars.
 Funnies on Parade, the first 'modern'
comic book. |
In 1933, after seeing the Ledger syndicate publish a small amount of their Sunday comics on 7 by 9 inch
plates, an idea hit upon two printer employees. Sales manager Harry L. Wildenberg and saleman Max. C.
Gaines, employees of Eastern Color Printing Company in New York, saw the plates and figured two of these
plates could fit on a tabloid page and produce a 7 1/2 by 10 inch book when folded. Gathering 32 pages of
 Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics
|
newspaper reprints including Mutt and Jeff, Joe Palooka, and Reg'lar Fellas, they created Funnies on Parade.
This was the first comic produced in a format similiar to modern comics. Looking to test their product,
they published 10,000 copies to be given out as premiums by Proctor and Gamble.
Impressed by this success, Gaines convinced Eastern Color that he could sell thousands of these to big
advertisers like Kinney Shoe Stores, Canada Dry, and Wheatena to be used as premiums and radio giveaways.
Because of this, Eastern followed by printing Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics and later
Century of Comics, both containing Sunday newspaper reprints. M. C. Gaines was able to sell these in
quantities of 100,000 to 250,000 copies. Century of Comics was the 2nd comic book and the first 100 page
comic.
With these enormous successes behind him and seeing the "Big Little Books" that were so popular at the
time, Gaines decided to try another test, actually trying to *SELL* these books. Taking a few extra
giveaway books, he marked them with a 10 cent price tag and preceeded to distribute them to area newsstands
on a Friday. When he returned on Monday, every copy had sold!
 Famous Funnies Series 1 |
Seeing potential in this new product, but unsure of how to best realize it, Eastern Color turned to George
Delacorte, remembering his earlier attempt at selling comics. Eastern Color printed 35,000 copies of
Famous Funnies, Series 1 priced at 10 cents and proceeded to sell the entire print run to Delacorte.
Delacorte, after begin refused by American News, which controlled newsstand distribution, made the comic
available only through chainstores. After it's promptly sold out on the stands, American News reconsidered
 Famous Funnies No. 1, the 1st newsstand
comic |
and contracted with Eastern color for 250,000 comics, prompting Eastern Color, in May 1934, to issue Famous
Funnies No. 1, dated July 1934. It was the first newsstand comic. With the printing of No. 2 in July 1934
it became the first monthly comic magazine. Though the title sold well, it was 7 issues before it showed a
profit. The title continued for another 216 issues and 20 years, reaching a peak circulation of 400,000
copies and ending in 1955.
Shortly after this saw the publication of the first four color comic featuring just a single character.
Gaines, looking for more promotions, approached and convinced the sponsers of the Skippy radio show to
publish a comic based on the character. With their backing, 500,000 copies of Skippy's Own book of Comics
were printed. The book was advertised on the air and given away in drug stores to anyone who bought a
tube of Phillip's toothpaste.
During this time more now classic comic strips began to appear. While working on the
Secret Agent X-9 strip, Alex Raymond developed an
idea for a science fiction strip. Shortly thereafter, in January 1934, the first Flash Gordon strips saw
publication. Later, after creating an additional strip, Jungle Jim, to go along with his increasingly
popular Flash Gordon, Raymond left
Secret Agent X-9. Flash Gordon's popularity continued to grow, with Flash Gordon related merchandise
soon flooding the stores and a weekly radio show was being aired. In 1936 a Flash Gordon serial starring
Buster Crabbe was produced by Universal. At the time is was the most expensive serial ever made. Near the
close of the year, on October 19, 1934, Milton Canniff's Terry
and the Pirates made their debut in the Tribune-News Syndicate. Terry and the infamous The Dragon
Lady continue to endure to this day.
me@dereksantos.com - Derek Santos - webmaster
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