Today in Comics History, January 11, 1935: Comics Oughta Be New Fun

On this day in 1935: headed by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, National Allied Publications (the forerunner of DC Comics), publishes one of the first comic books of all-new (not reprinted from newspapers) comics: the oversized (seriously, it's bigger than a treasury!), all-black-and-white anthology book New Fun #1. Here's a news item from my local paper, back in the days when I was just a little flat-capped, all-singin', all-dancin' newsie!


from the Brooklyn Eagle (January 11, 1935)
(You can read more about its history - and other early DC Comics — at The Secret Origins of DC Comics blog!)

In 2020, DC put out a facsimile edition of New Fun #1 in their much-loved but long-dormant "Famous First Editions" series, and oh boy, I gotta tell ya, it's a doozy! Lookit how big this thing is! (I recemmend a hard copy rather than a digital version for exactly that reason.) You obviously won't find Batman or Superman or Angel Love in these pages — the DC Universe had yet to be built — but there's a lot of great gag strips and adventure stories, plus all the original text pages and ads. Look, here's my copy! It dwarves me.




Copies are still available out there in the wild, but I bet DC won't reprint this, so rush out right now (put some pants on first, of course) to your local comic store and buy it or ask them to see if they can order it for you, an if all else fails that big Monopoly Bookstore Online has it currently in stock. And hey, wait a minute, why were you reading my blog without pants on?


(Amazon ad)
You need New Fun in your life. We all need New Fun! Why, no lesser a sage than Mister Jack Hues once intoned Everybody New Fun tonight! Or somethin' like that.