Funny Papers

The Funny Papers Trilogy #1

by Tom De Haven

Funny Papers chronicles cartoon icon Derby Dugan's beginnings in the rough-and-tumble world of yellow journalism in turn-of-the-century New York, when Hearst and Pulitzer owned tabloid America. The aptly named Georgie Wreckage, a sketch artist for Pulitzer's daily World, rockets to fame as the creator of what becomes a hugely successful cartoon franchise in this, the first book in Tom De Haven's epic trilogy of twentieth-century pop-culture America.

Genres: Comics, Fiction, Historical Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Tom De Haven is the author of five novels: Freaks' Amour, Jersey Luck, Funny Papers, Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies, and Dugan Under Ground; a collection of three related novellas, Sunburn Lake; and a three-novel series, Chronicle of the King's Tramp, which includes Walker of Worlds, The End-of-Everything Man, and The Last Human. His latest novel for young adults, The Orphan's Tent, was published in 1996, and his latest graphic novel, Green Candles, in 1997. He has previously published two young adult novels, two graphic novels, and various other innovative fiction projects.

De Haven has a richly varied experience as a writer, having worked as a freelance journalist, an editor, and a film and television scriptwriter. His book reviews appear regularly in Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times Book Review. His awards include a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and he has twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Before joining VCU's faculty, De Haven taught at Rutgers and Hofstra University.

Reviews

[Kate Vane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Georgie Wreckage is a sketchman on a newspaper, illustrating the news. He sees, draws and is haunted by gang wars, ferry disasters and dismembered corpses. But Georgie’s world is under threat. Colour printing is coming, photography is breathing down his neck. There are inventors everywhere and everything is changing.

The future is in the funny papers but Georgie can’t be funny. He can’t make things up. Then a chance encounter leads him to draw a young street vendor named Pinfold and he is cursed with sudden success. Meanwhile, Pinfold’s life is never quite the same again.

Funny Papers is full of energy and exuberance. Even at its darkest, when Georgie moves among the criminal, the dispossessed and the poor, it fizzes with life. It captures a period of dramatic social and technological change, where nothing is certain and everything is in motion. There are plenty of resonances with today, not least Pinfold’s struggle to maintain his identity in the face of his more vivid and ‘real’ cartoon counterpart.

You don’t need to be a fan of comics (I’ve never really got them) to enjoy this book. I raced through it and am looking forward to reading the sequel.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The spirit of the book and its many memorable characters is infused with the joyful creative energy of the late 19th Century. I love books about that period, and the fact that Funny Papers is centered on the birth of the newspaper comic strip makes it all the more enjoyable.

Funny Papers is a glorious mixture of humor, drama, pathos, education, and literary sleight-of-hand - a true portrait of the period it illuminates. Secondary character Walter Geebus is wide-eyed and callow in Funny Papers - when the sequel, Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies arrives, he is worn down and bitter. And I loved the character of Pinfold!

It's ironic to see Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem getting so much ink about their mixing prose and comics when De Haven has been doing it since the mid-'80s. Much as I loved Kavalier & Clay, I found Funny Papers to be just as memorable.

[Brendan Mckillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written with an interesting story, however, about three quarters into the novel I realized I didn't really like any of these characters. I didn't dislike them, I just couldn't find anything relatable or intriguing about any of them. I didn't care about what happened to them. At that point, I wanted to finish the novel so I could simply be done with their story and move on to something else.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a good deal of historical slang in Tom DeHaven's "Funny Papers" and clever use of history at the turn of the last century. He set out to give a background for the invention of the Sunday funny and he does a great job. However, don't be fooled by the funny in the title: there are some dire characters that make up his dramatis personae and some don't make it to the end. A pretty clever work overall, but I just wish I could have had one character to root for. The danger of writing the picaresque novel: the reader might not get hooked by any one character.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books, this dark, comic novel reimagines the origins of the newspaper comic strip through the misadventures of newspaper artist Georgie Wreckage, orphan Pinfold, and Fuzzy, the Dog Who Talks. In this world, Comic strip conventions -- like wacky inventors and dazed women with birds flying around their heads -- are real. So are melodramatic tropes like gangsters and kidnapping. The New York of this novel is farcical but dangerous, and if you like it, you'll love it.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

De Haven delivers another rich and detailed period piece with an equally rich cast of characters. It was nice to finally read about the long history that lead into "Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies".

[Mama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and funny! Took me months to read cause I have been in a reading funk.