Legendary underground lawyer Albert Morse launched The Funny Papers with copublisher Sherman Saiger and editor Lydia Saiger as a monthly, full-color tabloid with a diverse array of content. With Morse's stellar reputation, he was able to recruit some of the best talent from the underground comics golden era to contribute to the paper, including Robert Crumb, Vaughn Bode, Larry Todd, Trina Robbins and Jay Kinney, among others.

The tabloid debuted in February, 1975 with full guns blazing, as Robert Crumb's Bo Bo Belinski was featured on the front cover. Larry Todd, Vaughn Bode, Trina and Ted Richards also appear in the first issue, but this was by no means a pure comic-book tabloid. Sherman and Lydia Saiger, who later authored a couple paperbacks with word-puzzle games for Bantam Books, designed The Funny Papers with equal emphasis on puzzles, silly reader contests, short features and brief reviews (of music albums and comics like Justin Green's Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary).

The Funny Papers was more akin to a Sunday newspaper insert magazine like Parade than an underground tabloid. The first issue even included a juvenile connect-the-dots picture more suitable for a children's magazine. Unlike the true underground newspapers of the day, there were zero investigative reports or long-form articles on controversial topics. The Funny Papers #1 was well designed, easy to digest, something for everybody, and ultimately disposable.



HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
It is currently unknown how many copies of this tabloid were printed. It has not been reprinted.

TABLOID CREATORS:
Please refer to the indicia to review all of the contributors to the first issue of The Funny Papers. Significant comic contributors to the three issues of the paper include:

Robert Crumb
Vaughn Bode
Larry Todd
Trina Robbins
Jay Kinney
Ted Richards
Bill Holman
Bruce Jones
Christopher Browne
Miguel Paiva
William Donahey
Altan
Winsor McCay