Heading: Section 1: PRE-HERO DCs * The FIRST DC COMIC BOOK
Author:
Title: NEW FUN COMICS No. 1
Place Published:
Publisher:DC [Indicia: National Allied Publications Inc.]
Date Published: February, 1935
Description: Poor (0.5). Extensive amateur restoration. Tear seals and abundant color fills to covers, some cover lettering touched up with black ink (most notably, the "FEBRUARY, 1935" date), spine and all edges of covers and pages completely reinforced with tape, front cover trimmed and with color-filled non-archival paper added to edges, interior pages trimmed, lacking p. 9 (Judge Perkins), p. 10 (Don Drake on the Planet Saro), p. 33 (Pelion and Ossa), p. 34 (2023: Super Police): INCOMPLETE. The back cover has been replaced with stiff brown paper, and the Tom Mix back cover ad comprises two horizontally-formatted COLOR PHOTOCOPIES pasted to the stiff brown paper (the "New Way to Learn Aviation" ad that should be on the inside front cover is not reproduced). Handling creases and cup ring residue to front cover, pageblock is detached from the cover and all pages except for the centerfold are split at the spine. Tan pages, still fairly supple except for the edges, which are chipped and brittle. Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.

Overstreet: "1st DC comic; 1st app. Oswald the Rabbit; Jack Woods (cowboy) begins." Gerber Photo-Journal Guide Scarcity Index: 8 ("Rare: 11-20 copies"). CGC Census: None (CGC does not slab tabloid-sized comics, although CGC Prez Matt Nelson told PBA's Director of Comics recently that adding tabloid-sized slabs for early DCs is "a future bucket list idea, but nothing is in the works at the moment"). Sales Data: Heritage has sold six copies: a Restored "Apparent 3.5" for $6572.50 in 2012; a Restored "Apparent VG" for $5377.50 in 2008; a Restored "Apparent VF-" File Copy for the same price, $5377.50, in the same year, 2008; a Restored "Apparent VG/Fine" for $5078.75 in 2009; a "Good" for $10,350 in 2005; and a "Good" for $8625 in 2002.

Credits: Cover: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson and Lyman Anderson. Scripts: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Adolphe Barreaux, Walter Scott, Bert Salg, Ken Fitch, Jack Warren, Joe Archibald, Lyman Anderson, Robert Weinstein, Eugene Koscik, Tom McNamara, Dick Loederer, John Lindermayer, Lloyd Jacquet?, Sheldon Stark? Art: Lyman Anderson, Dick Loederer, Charles Flanders, John Lindermayer, Adolph Schus, Lawrence Lariar, Adolphe Barreaux, Henry Kiefer, Bert Salg, Clem Gretter, Jack Warren, Joe Archibald, Robert Weinstein, Eugene Koscik, Tom McNamara.Tapped by Taschen: The DC Universe Collection copy of New Fun Comics #1 is illustrated in Taschen's 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking (page 10), with the following commentary: "Combining his skill at developing new material with the nascent comic book market, Wheeler-Nicholson set up National Allied Publications on a card table at Manhattan's Hathaway Building on Fourth Avenue and launched the first American comic book sold on the basis of new content, New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine, and DC's history began in February 1935. An oversize tabloid with black-and-white interiors... he ordered a run of 120,000 on the presses of the Brooklyn Eagle.... New Fun didn't rely on the presold excitement of the strips it reprinted — if anything, it quietly ignored that some of the material was repurposed from Wheeler-Nicholson's syndicate."

Dawn of a Dynasty: "Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications planted its flag in the emerging comics scene with the release of New Fun. Subtitled 'The Big Comic Magazine,' it was literally larger than its competition, measuring in at a tabloid-sized 10x15 inches. New Fun even had comics on its cover, with the first issue's twelve panels introducing readers to the cowboy heroics of Jack Woods.

"Although Wheeler-Nicholson was hoping to compete with 1934's trailblazing Famous Funnies (published by Eastern Color Printing), he started off at a steep disadvantage. Not only was Famous Funnies full-color throughout, but it had already locked up the rights to reprint some of the most popular comic strips from the nation's newspapers, like 'Mutt & Jeff' and 'Dixie Dugan.' New Fun began with black-and-white interior pages and a heavy reliance on new material. The inability to license surefire hits didn't help at the outset, but it did make New Fun a pioneer at supplying original content — a critical template to follow as the industry began to mature out of the repackaging and reprinting business.

"The features in New Fun #1 ran the gamut from humor ('Caveman Capers') to literature ('Ivanhoe') to spy intrigue ('Sandra of the Secret Service'). Among the few licensed characters to appear in the title was Universal Pictures' Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, co-created by a young Walt Disney in the 1920s. The comic also carried advertising, another unusual move for the time. In its original, historic incarnation, New Fun lasted for six issues, and incorporated a few interior color pages starting with issue #3." — Alan Cowsill, Alex Irvine & others, DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing: 2012, p. 12.

More About the Major: "The Major cannily knew a larger business opportunity when he saw it — after seeing Famous Funnies, he wanted to publish his own comics magazine to capitalize on the new market. So he set up a card table and chair in an eleventh-floor office of the Hathaway building on Fourth Avenue in New York City and in 1934 formed National Allied Publications. By February 1935, New Fun #1 hit the stands. New Fun was historical because it contained new material — all of the popular cartoons had been syndicated already, so the Major actively looked for (and commissioned) new ones. New Fun was not only one of the first comic books, it was the first independent comic book. Because it was a salon for new talent, it did more than create the comic book, it helped create the industry." — Brad Ricca, Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Creators of Superman. St. Martin's Press, 2014, pp. 103-104.****************************************
The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, encompassing every single DC comic published for retail sale from 1934 to 2014. The collection was amassed by British music producer Ian Levine over the course of several decades, and it's been hailed as the single greatest collecting accomplishment in comic book history. This collection served as the basis for former DC Comics president Paul Levitz's monumental book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, published by Taschen in 2017. PBA is proud to present this epic collection in a series of themed sales, including The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION Part 3: The GOLDEN AGE, coming this summer. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.

Enjoying PBA's DC Universe Collection: Pre-Hero, Ashcans and Oddities sale? A very small number of softcover and limited edition hardcover auction catalogues are available for purchase. The catalogues are fully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and make excellent reference works for DC diehards. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.