Funnies, Inc.

Funnies Inc.

Funnies, Inc. supplied the contents of Marvel Comics #1, the first publication of Marvel predecessor Timely Comics
Status	Defunct
Founded	Late 1930s
Founder	Lloyd Jacquet
Headquarters location	45 West 45th Street, New York City
Key people	Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Mickey Spillane, Leonard Starr
Publication types	Comic books

Funnies, Inc. is an American comic book packager of the 1930s to 1940s period collectors and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Lloyd Jacquet, it supplied the contents of early comics, including that of Marvel Comics #1 (cover-dated Oct. 1939), the first publication of what would become the multimedia corporation Marvel Comics.

American comic books originated as oversized magazines that reprinted newspaper comic strips in color. These strips, coming from "the funny pages", were colloquially called "the funnies". Gradually, new material began to be created for the emerging medium of comic books. In the late 1930s, with the huge sales success of Superman, many magazine publishers and entrepreneurs jumped on the trend.

One of the many comics companies founded during this time was Centaur Publications, where Lloyd Jacquet was art director and where comic creators included writer and artist Bill Everett. Jacquet then broke off to form Funnies, Inc., initially called First Funnies, Inc. Located at 45 West 45th Street in Manhattan, New York City, it was one of that era's "comic-book packagers" that would create comics on demand for publishers. Its competitors included two other comics packagers formed around this time: Eisner & Iger, founded by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger, and the quirkily named Harry "A" Chesler's studio.