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SCREWBALL! The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny Hardcover – October 8, 2019

by Paul C. Tumey (Author)

4.8 42 ratings

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The story of screwball comics, with new research and rare art from some of the most hilarious cartoonists of all time.

Before "screwball" became a movie genre, it was a staple of other forms of American culture, including newspaper comic strips. Emerging from the pressures of a rapidly accelerating technological and information-drenched society, screwball comics offered a healthy dose of laughter and perspective. The disruptive, manic, and surreal verbal-visual comedy of these "funnies" fostered an absurdist sensibility embraced by The Marx Brothers (who took their names from a popular comic strip), W. C. Fields, Tex Avery, Spike Jones, Ernie Kovacs, and Mad magazine. Comics scholar Paul C. Tumey traces the development of screwball as a genre in magazine cartoons and newspaper comics, presenting the work of around fifteen cartoonists, with an art-stuffed chapter on each.

The book offers a wealth of previously un-reprinted comics unleashing fresh views of some of America's greatest and most-loved cartoonists, including George Herriman (Krazy Kat), E.C. Segar (creator of Popeye), Rube Goldberg (The Inventions of Professor Lucifer G. Butts, A.K.), Bill Holman (Smokey Stover), and Frederick Opper (Happy Hooligan). In addition, readers will be delighted to discover previously "lost" screwball masters, such as Gene Ahern (The Squirrel Cage), Gus Mager (Sherlocko the Monk), Boody Rogers (Sparky Watts), Milt Gross (Count Screwloose), George Swanson ($alesman $am) and others.

Both humorous and educational, this book is aimed at a general audience of all ages and at university comics studies programs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Best Comics-Related Book of 2020" nominee for the 2020 Eisner Award
"The future of comics is in the past, and Paul Tumey does a heroic job of casting a fresh light on the hidden corners of that past in Screwball! The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny. It's a lavish picture book with over six hundred comics, drawings, and photos, many of which haven't been seen since their twenty-four hour life-spans in newspapers around a century ago."
-Art Spiegelman, The New York Review of Books
"The book is an anthology of some of the earliest pioneers of comics art from the funny pages, and Tumey is a fantastic guide: he can explain the nuances of comics as well as just about anyone, and his passion for the classics of the funny pages is infectious."
-The Seattle Review of Books

""Superbly constructed ... fascinating ... deft writing hand"- Washington Times

"The most important contribution to comic strip history published this year ..."- Panels & Prose (number one pick for best comic strip book of 2019)

"A delightful pleasure to browse through ... impressively organized and presented to be both an inherently humorous read and informatively educational -- making it an ideal addition to the personal reading lists of all comics enthusiasts, as well as community, college, and university library American Popular Culture collections."
-Midwest Book Review

"Combining more than six hundred rare cartoons, comics and photographs with deeply researched and insightful text, comics historian Paul C. Tumey builds the case for the genre of Screwballism, convincingly illustrating why names like Frederick Burr Opper or Boody Rogers should be at least as familiar to Americans as Charlie Chaplin or Mel Brooks. Better yet, he curates examples of the cartoonists' work -- much of which is previously unpublished since first appearing in newspapers -- that make the case for themselves."- Michael Tisserand, author of KRAZY: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White

From the Author

In the course of writing and curating Screwball! I embarked on a thrilling journey in which I met many fascinating, funny cartoonists who lived and worked as far back as 140 years ago. I am delighted to be able to share their stories and art with a new audience.

The current unprecedented access to historical sources on the Internet has propelled us into a new era of historical scholarship in which it is possible to conduct in-depth research that has previously been very difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish. It turns out there is a surprising amount of comics history that is undocumented and mostly forgotten. My mission with Screwball! was to reclaim some of this material, both with "lost" cartoonists and new information and art related to well-known cartoonists.

There is an innocence to screwball comics I love. At first, I thought it was because the people of the time were rather naive and uncomplicated. And then I realized these were the generations that endured World Wars and the Great Depression. I came to realize the screwball style―silly, manic, absurd, non-ironic―was a deliberate choice our worldly, weary, and wise forebears made. They must have needed a laugh. Given that our current times are looking a bit grim, it seems a worthy effort to place some of this material back in circulation to offer a tonic and perhaps even an inspiration to celebrate the absurdities of life.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Library of American Comics; Illustrated edition (October 8, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684051878
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684051878
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.91 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.25 x 1.12 x 10.87 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #870,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #251 in History Humor (Books)
- #1,653 in Comic Strips (Books)
- #6,591 in Fiction Satire

Customer Reviews:
4.8 42 ratings

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Paul C. Tumey

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Paul C. Tumey is a writer and artist in Seattle, Washington. He was nominated for an Eisner Award as co-editor of Foolish Questions and Other Odd Observations by Rube Goldberg, co-edited and wrote for The Art of Rube Goldberg, and wrote the introduction to LOAC Essentials: The Bungle Family and Thimble Theatre and the pre-Popeye Cartoons of E.C. Segar. He writes a column for The Comics Journal.

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Anna M. Haan

Must-Have Fun History of Comics

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2020

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Paul Tumey’s book Screwball!, which was nominated for the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Book about Comics, is a beautiful volume that includes cartoons on almost every page. The book’s unusual size of 11 by 11 inches allows for the reproduction of mostly color cartoons in their original gorgeous hues. This volume is a must for anyone who wants to learn about this unique category of the visual arts.

Tumey discusses a different cartoonist in each of the book’s 15 chapters. I know nothing about cartoonists of the first part of the last century and appreciate that Tumey provides biographic backgrounds in addition to describing each artist’s themes and illustrative characteristics. The focus of the book is on cartoons that picture explosive actions like the “screwball spin” and include both visual and written puns.

Many of the cartoons are extraordinarily detailed, like Walter Bradford’s 1901 “Christmas in Animal Land,” which is in full color and pictures more than 80 insects, birds, and animals. Tumey describes Clare “Dwig” Dwiggins’ 1909 cartoon “School Days and Ophelia” (1909) as “typically dense and cockamamie.”

There’s a chapter on the infamous Rube Goldberg, whom Tumey describes as “the Napoleon of the nuthouse.” Goldberg’s name is familiar even to people who’ve never read his cartoons, as a machine was named after him—one that, per Wikipedia, is “intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and overly complicated way.” This was inspired by Goldberg’s cartoons like “How to Strain Soup Through a Full-Grown Beard” (1916). I particularly like his Foolish Questions series; for example: “Are you drawing a picture?” “No, Miss Margaret, I’m out riding in my motor boat.”

Besides the treasure of cartoons this book includes, Tumey’s writing is excellent. It’s obvious he did a huge amount of research about every cartoonist and their life and work, and his prose wonderfully describes the singular, manic art of what he calls screwball comics. “If the act of creating absurdist art is whistling in the dark, then with Smokey Stover, Bill Holman, a valedictorian of the school of hard knocks, was belting out arias. With its gushing fire-hose froth of gags, visual puns, background jokes, surreal imagery, explosions, and slapstick chaos Smokey Stover offered more humor per square inch than anything else in the newspaper.”

2 people found this helpful

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Joseph Pedoto

Greatest book ever published. All other books are just TRASH!

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2019

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"Screwball! The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny" by Paul C. Tumey is the greatest book ever published. All other books are just… pamphlets, mimeographs, ephemera. In a word: TRASH!

Possibly the only thing that can save America today is this Great Book.

The huge size, layout and production of this book are staggeringly good. I think they used both graphics AND design when putting this together. Dean Mullaney and Lorraine Turner have done a magnificent job, truly.

The color reproductions alone are worth TWICE, no THREE TIMES the asking price. And I understand there’s words in there too, for you literary types. Actually, there’s a ton of research and information here, incredible rare photos and strips that have NEVER BEFORE been re-printed!

The list of forgotten and neglected comic strip masters would warm any true fan’s heart: Frederick Burr Opper (who knew it was pronounced aw-per), Eugene Zimmerman, Walter R. Bradford, Clare Victor Dwiggins, Gus Mager, the INCOMPARABLE George Herriman, Rube Goldberg, Walter Hoban, E.C. Segar (the man was far more than just the creator of Popeye), the AMAZING Milt Gross, Gene Ahern, George Swanson, the FABULOUS Bill Holman, Ving Fuller (director Sam Fuller's brother) and the frankly BIZARRE George Rogers.

If you don’t know Milt Gross, you don’t know funny. Seriously. All the Mysteries of Life are revealed in Bill Holman’s Smokey Stover, if you know where to look. My CPA says my entire financial life is a Rube Goldberg contraption.

Our country is suffering and this book is THE answer. Empty your bank accounts, cancel your brokerage deals, sell all your stocks, bonds and mutual funds and buy as many copies of this book as you possibly can. You’ll thank me later.

Buy it, read it, LAUGH YOUR A** OFF! Reality will still be there when you’re done.

Mr. Tumey, THANK YOU for all your tremendously hard work. I promise, if I ever stop laughing, I will read every word you wrote. You’ve performed an incredible rescue mission that ensures these cartoon classics will live again for today’s audience, where they are SO DESPERATELY needed.

Foo, indeed!

("Street Rod" by Henry Gregor Felsen is the second greatest book ever published, if you were wondering).

15 people found this helpful

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Emil

A Great Reference and Historical Text

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2021

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This book is SO beautiful and well-researched! I'm completely pleased with it and could not recommend it more! It's also a delightful (often funny) look back at the attitudes of past times. An absolutely worthy purchase and a must-have for any comics scholar.

One person found this helpful

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David L. Hooley

"Screwball!" illuminates a path of sanity through times of so-called normalcy

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

I cannot add much to what previous reviewers have already said. This book was a genuine pleasure to read. It has motivated me to explore more of the work of the artists covered in this thoroughly researched book. Publishers, if you're listening, please bring us a collection of Gene Ahern's The Squirrel Cage!

2 people found this helpful

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A voracious reader

A real treat!

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2020

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This (huge) book has a terrific and huge collection! It was obviously a "labor of love" to put together this compilation. Also, the colors are great.

One person found this helpful

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monte beauchamp

WONDERFUL

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

Really enjoyed this book. A really heartfelt, produced book. Nice design and scans, and very well bound and produced. Pages and pages of cornball illustrations. It's a total delight.

4 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A lot of fun

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

A lot of memories of early newspaper comics

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Big Papi

Interesting topic and very well arranged.