It was the soil from which DC Comics grew, but at some point, the fun always comes to an end. Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of More Fun Comics #127 awaits!

MORE FUN COMICS #127

Writer:  Jack Mendelsohn
Penciler: Howie Post
Inker: Howie Post
Colorist: Uncredited
Letterer: Ira Schnapp
Editor: Whitney Ellsworth/Jack Schiff/Bernard Breslauer
Publisher: National Comics Publications Inc. (DC Comics)
Cover Price: 10 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $500.00
Release Date: September 24, 1947

Previously in More Fun Comics: The first American comic book to feature all new material, New Fun Comics was the first venture of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s National Allied Publications Inc. At about the same time, the Major’s other publishing concern, DC Comics, Inc. was really taking off, but Wheeler-Nicholson found himself heavily in debt to his partners, resulting in National Allied being seized in 1938, then merged with All-American Publications in 1946. The historical significance of the New Fun/More Fun title cannot be underestimated, as it contained advertising rather than being sponsored by one company and featured early work by future comics superstars, including Superman creators Siegel & Shuster. Indeed, the book’s first editor, Lloyd Jacquet, was behind the formation of Funnies, Inc., the company behind Centaur Comics, as well as providing the content for Marvel Comics #1! It was also the book that debuted comic book stalwarts such as Aquaman, Doctor Fate, Green Arrow, and Superboy. As the superhero genre began to wane in 1946, the book’s hero features were migrated to Adventure Comics, with More Fun becoming the home of Jiminy Crockett and his magic book until the end.

That’s where we come in.

Debuting in More Fun #121, Jiminy and His Magic Book is the creation of Jack Mendelsohn, who went on to be a prolific television writer, working on properties as diverse as Laugh-In, Hong Kong Fooey, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. He’s also known for Jacky’s Diary, a comic strip that bears some resemblance in tone to Jiminy’s. Having wished to meet a caveman, Jiminy shows him the farm where he lives, after which the caveman offers to show him “the way things ought to be done.” Leaping down the strange hole to the land of Prehistoria, Jiminy and his new friend explore the ways of the cave people, including the man’s favorite meal: Roast mammoth!

Like his later spiritual brethren Harold (of purple crayon fame) or Calvin (partner of Hobbes), the line between fantasy and reality in Jiminy’s tales is never clear, nor is it actually necessary to be. After hanging with the caveman, Jiminy and his pal Billy the goat encounter a local sailor, Captain Burly, who starts spinning a yarn for the boy… one that becomes reality, including the arrival of pirates on the trail of riches.

The art in all 17 Jiminy and His Magic Book strips is by Howie Post, the creator of Anthro and charming syndicated strip, The Dropouts, and it’s note-perfect on every page. Whether Master Crockett is encountering pirates, knights, or bits of misremembered history, Post imbues it all with wit and energy. It’s really a shame that Howie’s work isn’t as well-remembered as Rene Goscinny or Walt Kelly, as he has the skills and creativity to be every bit their equal. Even when the story turns to science fiction, it’s science fiction through the prism of a pre-teen farmboy, perfectly giving us Jiminy’s perspective on the world.
After being chased off by the Man In The Moon (a crotchety, shotgun-wielding hermit with a long beard, natch), Jiminy chases the ghost of his father’s cow to the gates of heaven, then encounters a wizard with the power of invisibility… or so it seems.

Turns out this wizard is a charlatan, but not in the way most magicians are!

The stories in this issue (indeed, in all seven appearances of Jiminy, Billy, and their tome) are pure, silly comic ingenuity, which makes the fact that More Fun Comics #127 is the final issue even more of a bummer as it earns a dead solid 5 out of 5 stars overall. Much as with the later cancellation of Adventure Comics, the loss of More Fun was the end of an era, even if nobody much seemed to notice, then or now. The book’s cancellation was the end of the earliest era of comics, marked by the loss of the funny book that started it, with the comic industry leaving the Golden Age behind and entering the Atomic Age, a short period that bridges the gap to the Silver Age.

It’s also a really fun comic book.

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