Buy new:
-21% $19.82
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 21 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: Prime Deals, USA
$19.82 with 21 percent savings
List Price: $24.95

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 21 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 17. Order within 14 hrs 21 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$19.82 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$19.82
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Returns
30-day easy returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$6.45
Supports Goodwill of Silicon Valley job training programs. The cover and pages are in very good condition! The cover and any other included accessories are also in very good condition showing some minor use. The spine is straight, there are no rips tears or creases on the cover or the pages. Supports Goodwill of Silicon Valley job training programs. The cover and pages are in very good condition! The cover and any other included accessories are also in very good condition showing some minor use. The spine is straight, there are no rips tears or creases on the cover or the pages. See less
$3.99 delivery May 22 - 24. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$19.82 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$19.82
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by Goodwill of Silicon Valley.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Mel Gordon
+ Follow
Jerry Siegel
+ Follow
See all
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman Paperback – July 1, 2010

by Thomas Andrae (Editor), Mel Gordon (Editor), Jerry Siegel (Artist),
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$19.82","priceAmount":19.82,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"19","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"82","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"WOUy2Vp3rV8W7kCLsC512UFK%2FFSY7yCQ3C56cS3M%2BaQdSZs2H59M%2FZzae6UNkCtFkUhvq9MWnHoOpy1Fj3scn2dR%2BhV4rtFKZNc%2F%2Fa27aljm%2B5n6cSWXS05z2KRzrG43Hs5SR8KUfp1kgWUEh%2FzYI47mlrXqHuDJOmO3fSzZIiQqNLIPld%2Bnzw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$6.45","priceAmount":6.45,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"6","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"45","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"WOUy2Vp3rV8W7kCLsC512UFK%2FFSY7yCQBNq2JbYGhKM7Rdc0GLLrR1LPs83zUZcpCP1dVGdj1eUyly1JkfWHY8y5HO58d4%2BWfXjwiYpoV3X07E2BDFu5v%2BzrhWvKeSru2TE%2Fis8DqXPzW6oTjVtJMGJUSm7QXniauA%2F8YeBYmyMq9ifSLwehxg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Here is a kaleidoscopic analysis of Jewish humor as seen through Funnyman, a  little-known super-heroic invention by the creators of Superman. Included are complete comic-book stories and daily and Sunday newspaper panels from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creative fiasco.

Siegel and Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland, sold the rights to their amazing and astonishingly lucrative comic book superhero to Detective Comics for $130 in 1938. Not only did they lose the ownership of the Superman character, they also agreed to write and illustrate it for ten years at ten dollars per page. Their contract with the DC publishers was soon heralded as the most foolish agreement in the history of American popular culture.

After toiling on workman’s wages for a decade, Siegel and Shuster struggled to come up with a new superhero, one that would right their wrongs and prove that justice, fair-play, and zany craftsmanship was the true American way and would lead to ultimate victory. But when the naïve duo launched their new comic character Funnyman in 1947, it failed miserably. All the turmoil and personal disasters in Siegel and Shuster’s postwar life percolated into the comic strip.

This book tells the back story of the unsuccessful strip and Siegel and Shuster’s ambition to have their funny Jewish superhero trump Superman.

Mel Gordon is the author of Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin.

Thomas Andrae is the author of Batman and Me.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Feral House
  4. Publication date
    July 1, 2010
  5. Dimensions
    7.25 x 0.5 x 9.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1932595783
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1932595789
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1948 Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the bitterly disenfranchised cocreators of Superman, attempted to recapture success by launching the comedic superhero "Funnyman." The comic book series, which also spawned a short-lived newspaper strip, was a flop, lasting only six issues, and is regarded as a footnote. In this volume, Gordon and Andrae attempt to make much of the fact that this footnote wears clown shoes, positioning Funnyman as "the first Jewish superhero." Gordon's lengthy disquisition on the roots of Jewish humor opens the book. Though full of fascinating facts and images, the essay is fragmentary and poorly organized, and the implicit relationship to Funnyman is often strained. Andrae is on firmer ground with his analysis of Superman and Funnyman as twin offspring of two Jewish phenomena: the strongman and the schlemiel. Unfortunately, the book reprints fewer than 40 pages from the series' six issues, alongside excerpts from the strip. One suspects some editorial embarrassment that Siegel and Shuster's stilted attempt at heroic slapstick fails to entirely live up to the claims made on its behalf. A fuller presentation would have permitted readers to better consider those points that do seem apt.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review


"…Funnyman’s immediate historical relevance is as the character Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created as their follow-up to Superman, but underlying that is a point of larger cultural importance. Andrae and Gordon approach the character as the most straightforward expression of Jewishness in comics at the time, and as a springboard to a wider discussion of the history of Jewish humor…Funnyman was the result of Siegel and Shuster turning a specific ethnic style into a more universal one. Funnyman might come from Jewish tradition, but in comics form he becomes any goofy guy who has to stand up against brute force of any sort. He’s far more reflective of the reading audience, as well as the creators, than Superman ever was, though Clark Kent was an attempt to rectify that. The Yiddishisms might have whispered to one audience, but the 'schlemiel' is something many people can identify with…" — Publishers Weekly


"…Funnyman’s immediate historical relevance is as the character Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created as their follow-up to Superman, but underlying that is a point of larger cultural importance. Andrae and Gordon approach the character as the most straightforward expression of Jewishness in comics at the time, and as a springboard to a wider discussion of the history of Jewish humor…Funnyman was the result of Siegel and Shuster turning a specific ethnic style into a more universal one. Funnyman might come from Jewish tradition, but in comics form he becomes any goofy guy who has to stand up against brute force of any sort. He’s far more reflective of the reading audience, as well as the creators, than Superman ever was, though Clark Kent was an attempt to rectify that. The Yiddishisms might have whispered to one audience, but the 'schlemiel' is something many people can identify with…" — Publishers Weekly

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Feral House; Reprint edition (July 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1932595783
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1932595789
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 0.5 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Jerry Siegel

    Jerry Siegel

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Jerome "Jerry" Siegel (October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996), who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator, along with Joe Shuster, of Superman, the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable of the 20th century.

    He was inducted (with Shuster posthumously) into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.

    Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Alan Light [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Thomas Andrae

    Thomas Andrae

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
  3. Mel Gordon

    Mel Gordon

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Ph.D., Theater, New York University. Directing, Acting, History of Theater. Author of Dada Performance; Erik Jan Hanussen; Expressionist Texts; The Grand Guignol: The Theatre of Horror and Terror; Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell’Arte; Mikhoels the Wise; The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber; The Stanislavsky Technique in America; The Stanislavsky Technique: Russia; Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin; and co-writer of Meyerhold, Eisenstein and Biomechanics: Actor Training in Revolutionary Russia as well as one hundred and thirty articles and entries on American, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Yiddish theater and cinema. Director of over twenty productions in Frankfurt, Houston, New York City, Paris, and Zurich. Former Associate Editor of The Drama Review. Taught at Lee Strasberg Institute, Michael Chekhov Studio, New York University, and Yale University.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mac n Me Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars In depth history for a little known topic
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024
Verified Purchase
Comic book fans have a voracious appetite for knowledge and history of their hobby, and this book will definitely feed their need of an obscure character that just happens to be connected to the world’s most recognizable super hero, namely Superman.

History readers in general will also enjoy this, even if they never read comics. It’s such an interesting convergence of historical touch points, some that defined the 20th century and stretching back to the roots of this peculiar American story telling medium.

This ranks up there with The Ten Cent Plague for comic book historical reading. Fun and informative.
Helpful
 Report
Bill Sodeman
4.0 out of 5 stars Perspective on Siegel & Schuster
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2016
Verified Purchase
Good backstory on one of the Siegel and Shuster's last attempts to create a super-hero. Shuster was legally blind and had significant trouble drawing. Let go by National, the duo needed a hit to support their families. Funnyman was highly derivative - he looked like Danny Kaye, and his persona change as the creative duo tried various tweaks to attract readers. The book's author puts the creation in context, as a product of Borscht Belt comedy. Outside of NYC, readers of that era would struggle with some of the references that Siegel & Shuster made.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Michael D.
5.0 out of 5 stars Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
Funnyman, brain child of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, was started after the duo parted ways from DC Comics. They were hoping that it would take off, but it did not. Possibly because people were expecting another Superman. At any rate, the book did not last that long, and this volume collects the entire run, including the rare Sunday and Daily newspaper strips. This is the first book ever devoted to a Jewish superhero and the first of the book is devoted to Jewish personages in American culture as background, the Siegel and Shuster describe the development and creation of Funnyman, followed by the covers and stories. Very unique idea that really never took off, so to speak. Readers may view this volume entirely differently from other readers reading this volume, but is a must have for its creativeness and as a tribute to the fathers of the superhero.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
WoodComic
5.0 out of 5 stars The creators of Superman and their path
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2014
Verified Purchase
For the initiated Jerry Siegel and Jerry Shuster were the co-creators of Superman the most important and iconic character in the history of the medium. Unfortunately, that accomplishment did not lead to the fame and fortune that they anticipated. After a failed legal attempt to regain the rights to their creation they were dismissed by the publisher.

Fortunately, for them they had offers from other publishers and immediately embarked on a new creation. This book describes their most ambitious post-Superman project.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Eustacia Vye
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure comic book history gold!
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2010
This book aspires to show the cultural influences that shaped Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman comic. It succeeds and then some. It also shows the forces behind the creation of Superman and the struggle Siegel and Shuster went through to create their visions. The essays are well written, insightful, original and enlightening and the graphics are AMAZING! This is a great book for any Superman fan or Judaica and vaudeville history buff.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
J. Parreira
5.0 out of 5 stars Prekhtik!
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2010
I am not a comic book person, actually. This book is so much more than that. Just the drama of Siegel and Shuster's most terrible deal with DC is tragic/comic enough for a Coen brothers flick. But, the insightful discussion of Jewish humor is both thoughtful and thorough. I was entertained and educated. Can't beat that.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gregory Schienke
2.0 out of 5 stars This is not a Funnyman collection
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2010
I have no one to blame but myself.

If you are a comic book fan/historian, you probably appreciate that we are in a Golden Age of comic-book reprinting. I look on the shelves behind me and I see the complete Spirit in 26 volumes, Joe Kubert's Tor from the 1950s, multiple volumes of Dr. Solar and Magnus, Robot Fighter, and well over 100 hardcover and paperback reprinting of classic material from DC and Marvel.

When I saw the solicitation for "Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman," I believed that what was being offered was another collection of rare comic books. How wrong I was. Oh, there are a few stories from the short run the character had in the comic-book format and a story from its comic-strip run, but the bulk of the book is a history of Jewish comedy along with related articles. Not that the articles are uninteresting, but they are not the reason I bought this book and I have a feeling there are books out there that better address that history.

Maybe I was wrong for reading too much into the description with regard to this book being a complete reprinting of the Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman, but reading the description now that I have the book the hand, I see nothing that would lead me to expect this book. The few Funnyman stories included raise my rating of the book to "two stars."
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Buckle
4.0 out of 5 stars Fairly good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2020
Verified Purchase
A fascinating insight into the early years of DC as well as the creators of Dr Occult (and some other character that did fairly well) as well as an amazing history of Jewish comedy. Also includes all the strips of the Funny Man who to be fair is an acquired taste but isn't that bad ... just probably not what people wanted at the time
Report