| Converted: | y |
| Publisher: | Magazine Enterprises |
| Debut: | Funnyman #1 (Jan. 1948) |
| Creators: | Jerry Siegel (writer) Joe Shuster (artist) |
| Alter Ego: | Larry Davis |
| Partners: | June Farrell Happy Sgt. Harrigan |
| Aliases: | Comic Crimebuster |
| Cat: | super |
| Hero: | y |
Funnyman is a comic book character whose adventures were published in 1948 by Magazine Enterprises.[1]
After leaving DC Comics and suing that company in a dispute over the rights to their character Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster rejoined their former DC editor Vin Sullivan — who had edited the earliest Superman adventures — at his new company, Magazine Enterprises.[2]
Siegel and Shuster's new creation, Funnyman, starred in a series that ran six issues (cover-dated Jan.–Aug. 1948).
In the first issue, Siegel and Shuster mocked what they saw as the rush of Superman clones in a story called "Funman, Comicman and Laffman".[3] In the story, TV comedian Larry Davis dresses up in a costume to catch a fake criminal for a publicity stunt, but he catches a real criminal instead, and decides to become a superhero.
Funnyman's enemies include Doc Gimmick, a criminal robot, and the crime team of Schemer Beamer, Bug-Eyes, Crusher, Rockjaw and the Curve.[4]
A newspaper comic strip debuted in October 1948, but Funnyman also failed to find an audience in this format, and the strip was soon dropped.[5]