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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.Tags
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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. show more 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. show less
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. show more 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. show less
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Author Information
22+ Works 1,650 Members
Tom De Haven is the author of several novels, including Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies (winner of the 1997 American Book Award) and Funny Papers. A frequent contributor to Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times, he also teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University and is a licensed private investigator. He lives in Midlothian, Va. (Bowker show more Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Funny Papers
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Graphic Novels & Comics, Historical Fiction, Suspense & Thriller
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3554 .E1116 .F8 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 83
- Popularity
- 385,240
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.77)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 3
