Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies: A Novel

The Funny Papers Trilogy #2

by Tom De Haven

A rollicking and bittersweet look at the cutthroat world of professional cartooning, Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies is also a tribute to the redemptive powers of love, imagination, and the well-chosen wisecrack.

Genres: Fiction, Comics, Historical Fiction, Humor

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Tom De Haven is the author of five novels: Freaks' Amour, Jersey Luck, Funny Papers, Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies, and Dugan Under Ground; a collection of three related novellas, Sunburn Lake; and a three-novel series, Chronicle of the King's Tramp, which includes Walker of Worlds, The End-of-Everything Man, and The Last Human. His latest novel for young adults, The Orphan's Tent, was published in 1996, and his latest graphic novel, Green Candles, in 1997. He has previously published two young adult novels, two graphic novels, and various other innovative fiction projects.

De Haven has a richly varied experience as a writer, having worked as a freelance journalist, an editor, and a film and television scriptwriter. His book reviews appear regularly in Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times Book Review. His awards include a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and he has twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Before joining VCU's faculty, De Haven taught at Rutgers and Hofstra University.

Reviews

[Freder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the world of 1930’s newspaper comics publishing, Dugan chronicles three or more affairs of various sorts: platonic/romantic, as hack writer Al Bready worries about his friendship with a married woman; platonic/creative, as Bready pairs with disagreeable, lecherous comic strip artist Walter Geebus to produce a work (the “Derby Dugan” of the book’s title) greater than either man could have accomplished on their own; and the very real love affair that America once had with newspaper comic strips. The relationships that he writes about are difficult ones, all bound up in a four-colored thread of endurance, faith, love and aspiration. Like the relationships between characters in the best comic strips — the Kats and Mice, the orphans and billionaires, the sailors and old maids — they mean something that is not easily defined. This is not a novel about the funnies, but a novel about the people who made them, the contradictory nature of the human heart, and “the better angels of our nature” that sometimes find fruition in populist art.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a copy of this book many years ago but I lent it to a friend and never got it back. (I'm not even sure he read it.) I was happy to find a copy at a library sale so that now I can reread it. I love this book. The style reads so smoothly and the structure is interesting, with each chapter split in to two sections: the first telling the current story and the second telling a story from the past that helps to inform the first part. The world feel so full and fully realized as are the characters. I especially like Al Bready, professional ghost writer and main character of the story.

I had forgotten how melancholic the book was. Bready is a man of strict routine but his world is changing around him. The book becomes a chronicle of a time in his life when things fell apart. Bready can see when people coming together work well and he tries to hold onto these connections but things change and other people have their own agendas and goals. At the end he reflects on this period of his life when he felt like he wasn't doing anything in particular but it turned out it was the best time of his life.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've read several books by tom de haven and this one is my new favourite. before that, i would say i liked the sequel to this book, dugan underground the best but this one feels simpler, and cleaner, and more emotionally centred. i have yet to read the first book, funny papers. the trilogy is linked only that it explores the lives of the artists and writers of the same comic strip, derby dugan, over the course of its 80-year run. it could just be the era it's set in that makes me like it more, dugan underground dealt with the hippie era of comics, and was in some ways darker than this novel which has its own heartbreaks. still the protagonist made me love him and that's always a plus for me.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bittersweet story of missed opportunity set against the 1930s, when the pulps were fading, funny papers were king and comic books were just taking off. A bittersweet narrative in a noirish first-person style that I find hypnotic. A sequel of sorts to FUNNY PAPERS, but you don't need to have read that to enjoy this: The only carryovers are a supporting character and a comic strip. If you liked KAVALIER & CLAY, I recommend this for its similar backdrop.

[Maggie Dubris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book in the library, and wasn't expecting much. It turned out to be great--funny, compelling, and super well done. I read it a couple times, and there are things the author does that I only caught on the second reading that are really clever and subtle. This is a secret gem of a book. On my own list of favorite books.

[Richard Guion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written novel that recreates the New York of the 1930s, specifically the subculture of newspaper strip cartoonists. Imagine a time when cartoonists were so popular, that gossip columnists wrote about them, or that they rubbed elbows with famous Hollywood actors. While this is a work of fiction, that actually happened.

[Tom Mcweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

To this day, still the best book I've ever read. It's writing perfection. Perfectly edited, not a wasted word. A book that at turns is both wonderful and devastating. A must read if you are an artist or cartoonist or even just a fan of newspaper comic strips.

[Corey Flanagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book if only because I relate to Al Bready in a way that startled me. Funny, emotional, bittersweet, and some great imagery throughout. How come the world can’t work out like it should?

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

A beautiful object w a gorgeous cover lovingly written in the voice of the time, capturing the pace, sound, look and feel of 1930s NYC. But to what end? There is essentially no story being told. No narrative drive whatsoever- couldn’t wait for it to get to the point and, really, it never did.

[Gary Sites · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read this one again.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, delightful reading. Took his class years ago and never got to this one. A pity. I’ll have to check out the first and third in this comic strip themed trilogy!

[Peter Weissman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus book well-earns its four- and five-star reviews. After finishing it, I ordered three more De Haven books from Thriftbooks.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al Bready is a writer of pulp fiction living in a seedy residential hotel in 1930s Manhattan. He also writes the Derby Dugan comic strip for Walter Geebus, the cranky old bastard who draws Derby. Al is in love with Jewel Rodgers, who types his manuscripts, but Jewel is married to her high school sweetheart Jimmie, now brain-damaged after an accident and left with the mentality of a 14-year-old.

And that's basically it. About halfway through, I realized that there was going to be no plot to speak of. Things happen, but at the same time, nothing happens. Structurally, the novel is a mess. Each chapter is in two parts, the first part taking place in the novel's present time, and the second part being sometimes, but not always, a flashback to a few years earlier. Individual chapters and scenes are well-written, and the ending is surprisingly touching, but in a few months time, I will have completely forgotten everything about this book.

[Adrienne Kiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about nostalgia and caring - and it draws you in from the very beginning. Essentially, the narrator is telling the story of the importance of creation; of how it feels to put your efforts and caring into something and watch it blossom. I think that's a feeling with which everyone can identify - the desire to make something, to set it free in the world, and to watch it succeed.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful!