Japanese translations of American comics from the post-war GHQ era.
At the edge of a punk book
There are small lucky ears.

Before we get into the charm of this American comic, the appeal of it all lies in its punk binding. Well, calling it a binding might be an exaggeration, because the contents are sticking out.

First of all, an independent panoramic manga (each episode of Sazae-san, for example) is printed on each page, and it is bound in half. The panoramic view unfolds whether you open it from the front or the back, and so far so good. Then, the entire long text (18 pages) is folded in half, and the short side of the stack is stapled, and a cover of about B5 size is glued on. The stapled part is at this point.I guess I hit the binding, but when I tried to fit it in by shifting the fold about 2 cm to the right, the text ended up sticking out 2 cm outside the cover. This is a binding that was done 80 years ago that would be done by OK-RM in the UK today, but this was surely an unintentional binding design error, so this book is a rare item with a double error, including the lucky ears.

The important Fukumimi appears in the shape of an arrow on the bottom right edge of the second page, which is opened wide. When you open the folded page, the small Fukumimi is folded again, making it look like a matryoshka doll.

This book, "The Funny Fellows," was published the year after "Wacky Brody" began to be published in newspapers in Japan. Dudley Fisher's unique bird's-eye view style and associative story development are said to have been one of the catalysts for the subsequent evolution of Japanese manga culture. The book centers on the tomboy Myrtle and her family, depicting their lively suburban life in seasonal comic strips. The stories are about ordinary, everyday life. The entire Midwestern region of the United States is depicted as one big family, with scenes from school, camping with friends, and playing poker at home, and every page is full of humorous vitality.

The book is based on 18 titles of the Sunday newspaper comic strip "RIGHT AROUND HOME" that was serialized in America during and after the war. In the Japanese version published in 1947, the English text in the speech bubbles was left unchanged, but the Japanese translation was laid out outside the picture frame. It was popular with a wide range of people, from GHQ personnel stationed in Japan to Japanese people who wanted to learn English.It was apparently well received by readers.

At that time, Japan was under American occupation. American culture was beginning to influence every aspect of life. The penetration of American comics is said to have begun with the publication of "Fickle Brody" in the Kokumin Shimbun in 1933.As part of the GHQ's strategy to have the story accepted in Japan, "Fickle Brody" was published in the Weekly Asahi for ten years from 1946 to 1956, and in the Asahi Shimbun from 1949 to 1951. Incidentally, the theme of "Fickle Brody" was the life of an American middle-class family surrounded by electrical appliances, and it did not have many characters.

It is well known among researchers of American comics that Dudley Fisher served as an aerial photographer during World War I. It was no coincidence that, in a rapidly changing world, he, who looked down on the earth from the sky, acquired a new vehicle called comics in his later years and looked down on the world around him from a bird's-eye view. For him, the beautiful world must have been the everyday life that was right next to him.

"table of contents"

School's out!
The boys help make the jelly.
Our Bridge Club holds its Outing.
No trade - no sale
A guy can always dream.
We teach Susie to play Poker
Nuttsie moves into his new home.
Back to nature.
Tricky business
Hair today and gone tomorrow.
Steak roast
We visit grandma's farm
Sunday night at Bessie's
We teach Nuttsie, Junior, to walk
Football season (We open the football season.)
Wedding Bells For Myrtle.
Back to school
Freddie gets the one-over