Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created an entire genre of comic book. They deserve every iota of respect one person can muster. They had created characters such as Dr. Occult, the Spectre, Slam Bradley, Radio Squad, and Superman. For $130, Siegel and Shuster sold their Superman character to National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics). Superman would end up making National, DC, and ultimately Warner Bros. billions of dollars over the next 80 years. Siegel and Shuster would barely get a fraction of that. In the late 1940s, they sued DC Comics over the rights to the character Superman. They immediately lost any and all work they normally got with the company. They went to work for Vin Sullivan's (their old editor) new Magazine Enterprises where they created Funnyman.
A Funnyman comic strip also ran in 1948 but DC Comics was upset with Siegel, Shuster, and Magazine Enterprises using the name Superman to sell their new comic book. That, along with nothing in their lives being particularly funny, brought about the demise of Funnyman in August 1948 and the Siegel/Shuster partnership in 1949.
Oh, good. I love Dick Van Dyke. Wait...that's not Dick Van Dyke. That's not Dick Van Dyke at all.
To be honest, I'd run away too if I saw pants that looked like that at that size.
How is it funnier? You could've died!!
June really looks like Lois Lane.
A superhero whose main superpowers are puns? That should give him more of rogue's gallery than Batman.
Yep, I think we will all be Funnyman's greatest villains after all these puns.
I once saw a movie that started out like this...
I'm sure these people are based on actual celebrities but I'm too lazy to look it up.
Also, I'm sure that Hankie Sonata is a life-sized version of that ventriloquist dummy from the
Goosebumps books.
Ha! I love that we came in just as the joke ended so we don't get to read what's so damn funny.
I mean, I get it. Go after your stolen watch but as your superhero persona? Stolen watches are why we have cops.
Ah, it's a valuable family heirloom. Make a bit more sense, I guess. That watch has been in the Davis family since the days of the American Revolution.
I just realized that Funnyman's costume is just him in clown pants, an odd tweed jacket and vest, and a long, bright red nose. Somehow, that's a worse disguise than just a pair of glasses.
I don't care if the narration box says "soundlessly", the window is right there and Funnyman is making noise by either talking or whispering the entire time.
Why was the lit end of the cigar placed over the table and not over the ashtray?
"I just need a swift cover-up." *kicks criminal*
"Ow! I've been kicked!"
*criminals look under the table, sees Funnyman, shoots him full of holes*
What's going on?
They're still at it. Funnyman doesn't even need to do anything. They're going to defeat themselves.
Oh, good. Maybe now this story will start getting some action.
How'd they miss him? The door was behind the guy in the blue suit. See? Right there behind the guy in the blue suit.
He's got his watch. Who cares about the other crimes they've committed.
No, you should just kill him.
Yeah, punch him in the nose. That'll make him rethink his hero ways.
Should've made sure he couldn't bend over. From what I understand, dead people can't bend over.
"Fine consolation." I like my criminals to not only be tough but sensitive and good with words.
It shouldn't be this hard to kill a hero with the name Funnyman.
"I'm not taking any chances. I'm asking you to call the police because I'm not near a phone right now."
"I'll polish him off my way. The Gus Duncz way."
OH MY GOD! JUST KILL HIM!! KILL HIM!!!
I get the feeling this is turning into some sort of weird erotica now. Who knew Siegel and Shuster had it in them?
I call foul. I'm pretty sure you'd still be able to pull the trigger. Come on, fight through it, Gus.
The room is still pretty filled with gas tho...
Those were teenagers?!?
"No, no, that's fine," said June, "go ahead and drive my car down a 45 degree hill in order to block in a car speeding down the road."
What kind of organized mobster doesn't have a gun handy?
Really? It's still just about the watch?
The old shovel under the foot bit. Classic.
I love that the entire shovel flipped up and hit him.
I bet if June was tied to those railroad tracks, Funnyman wouldn't be as concerned.
It's clear he's going to use the rock to flip the board up and launch the watch into the air thus avoiding it being run over by the train. Quit dragging this out, narration box!
Called it.
What's a gink?
"Mind your own business and let us cops capture crooks, that's what we're paid for." About time someone said it. I mean, he is just a guy in polka-dot clown pants, after all.
Wait. I don't see a "The End" box. Do you see a "The End" box? WHERE'S THE "THE END" BOX??!!
I love that Funnyman has to go back to the alley where he originally changed his clothes. That's actually a nice and kind of humorous detail. You never see Superman go back to the phone booth where he changed from Clark Kent.
"What? I could've gotten myself killed? Brilliant! Come on, June, this will make a hilarious movie!"
