Suggested Reading

I'm rereading Tom DeHaven's FUNNY PAGES now, and I have to say, I'm enjoying it now perhaps more than
I did the first time I read it, about 20 years ago (I almost never re-read books, but this is, I think, my third
read for this novel.)
For anyone interested in a good book, I'd recommend it, I think it's a terrific novel--wonderfully written,
but for cartoonists, I think it's almost required. Set in the late 19th century New York
City (I'm a sucker for turn of the century NYC stories anyway), it basically tells a fictional story of the birth of the
Sunday Comics Section. Such a good read, I think.
DeHaven wrote two sequels, one set during the depression, the other during the underground comix
period of the 60's, and I've read the first sequel, haven't the second, but really much preferred the original book. I believe
they're all still in print, and available on Amazon, or wherever you chose to purchase books.

A good companion piece for that novel is THE WORLD ON SUNDAY, a coffee table art-book, showcasing
nicely reproduced scans from some of the earliest color Sunday Sections featured in Joseph Pulitzer's
New York World Newspaper.

And speaking of the funnies, you gotta go out and get the latest WALT AND SKEEZIX. I
mean, you gotta. GASOLINE ALLEY is truely a work of genius, in my opinion, and
this volume following the adopted Skeezix's second year living with the kindly and
portly Walt also reprints a short bit of a GUMPS continuity. Holey Moses, how could you not
get it? Fellers, kids---if the names of these strips mean nothing to you, and they may not,
please, please do whatever you gotta do to learn more about them.